


Out Of The Woods

by Sarah992



Category: The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Alpha Rick, British English, Daryl Dixon Smut, English, Eventual Smut, F/M, Mild Language, Mild Smut, Pregnancy, Prison, Protective Daryl, Relationship(s), Smut, Unplanned Pregnancy, Walkers (Walking Dead)
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-30
Updated: 2017-12-30
Packaged: 2018-07-19 05:48:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 38,424
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7347622
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarah992/pseuds/Sarah992
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Daryl and Rick find a girl alone in the woods and bring her back to the prison and Daryl find himself falling for the girl, will a mysterious group in a nearby town cause trouble for Daryl and the others? And will an appearance from the girls past ruin things for Daryl?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fanfic I've written properly and actually gotten past the first page, and the first thing I've ever published on a site like this, so please leave comments on what you liked and what you guys think would be better/can be improved  
> Thanks :)

Chapter 1

 

The last thing Sarah could remember before waking up in a strange place, with her wrists bound and attached to the bedside was being caught out in the middle of nowhere, scared, alone, and being chased by walking corpses.  
She had been travelling around America with two of her best friends for 5 months by the time the country was on complete lock-down, they hadn’t been able to get to an airport quick enough to catch a flight back to the UK, they were stuck there. It had all started with strange rumors spreading around of some drug that made people go crazy and become cannibals, then it had been on the news and the sheer amount of media coverage put everyone in a country-wide panic. People were posting videos online and all over youtube of candid videos of the police killing these people, except this was different, the videos showed the police shooting repeatedly into the torso of them and they wouldn’t stop, and then they would shoot them in the head, that sure did stop them.

Sarah slowly opened her eyes and her initial reaction was to get the binds off and get the hell out of there, it had been 6 months living in an apocalyptic world where dead people were walking around and trying to take a bite out of you. People showed their true colours when all humanity crumbled, unfortunately the odds of encountering kind groups of people were getting lower and lower, they were slowly being picked off by the more dramatic and dangerous groups who would brutally murder anyone just to get their hands on their supplies. Sarah had come across these types of people before and not all of the group she was with survived to tell the tale, which is why she decided she needed to put as much space between her and whoever had brought her here and tied her hands to the bed.   
Looking around her to find some sort of way out was difficult, it was late and the room was almost pitch black if not for the moonlight shining through the barred window beside her, by wriggling her wrists a bit she realised that they had been handcuffed and then wrapped in god knows how many layers of duct tape and then a canvas bag had been placed on top of that and also taped shut, whoever put her like this didn’t want her getting away.  
She attempted to lean forward and use her teeth to remove the tape but a searing pain went shooting up her right hand side and she let out a small yelp of pain, they had obviously had a person stationed outside of her door as before she could lean back in place and pretend to be asleep the person was opening the door and striding over to her bedside with a crossbow strapped over his shoulder and a compact Smith and Wesson in his hands.  
Light spilled in from the corridor beyond and Sarah could see an infinite number of doors down a long corridor which didn’t look especially promising, he switched on a lamp by Sarah’s bedside and she saw his face for the first time and was shocked at how familiar he looked, his dark brown hair threatened covering his eyes, the stubble on his chin was dark with mud and his skin glistened with sweat, he looked to be in his early 30’s maybe late 20’s, he was tall, looming over the bed standing at around 6 feet and wearing a vest with baggy, torn jeans, then it dawned on her that he was the man who had found her out in the woods but before she could ask what was going on he was joined by another man with a great bushy beard wearing a button down shirt which was probably white once in its life and dark jeans, he too carried a gun in his holster around his waist along with a walkie talkie and an ammo pouch.   
They both stared down at Sarah, she looked between the two men not knowing what to do, she could either play the innocent lost English girl, or stand up for herself and demand an explanation as to why she had been tied up. Before she had a chance the second man began talking.  
“Bet you wanna know about the restraints” he asked, his voice low and very southern, an accent which Sarah had discovered was quite possibly her favourite accent she had encountered so far in America, Sarah just stared at the man for a moment, unsure of what to do or say.   
“Well, the last people we decided to help, let’s just say they weren’t exactly the type of people you’d want living in the next state to, let alone the same town or even the same house.”  
As he said this Sarah saw his right hand move over and rub the ring on his ring finger and she knew what he was talking about, they had lost people just as much as Sarah had. She looked over the the man who had rescued her and he was staring intently at her, his piercing blue eyes taking in every detail of her face, her pale English skin, her dark blue eyes, the contour of her lips, her sullen cheek-bones, her jawline. When he noticed she was staring at him his cheeks began burning and he looked over at the other man, he tried to stop himself but he found himself looking back over at her intermittently to find that she too was still staring at him.  
“So tell us, who are you, where are you from and how did you end up alone and injured in a woods full of walkers?” asked the second man who had been talking almost the whole time Sarah had been staring at her rescuer.   
She coughed and look at the bearded man, “Oh well, my name is Sarah, I’m originally from England but me and er, some friends were over here travelling when everything went down. We were in South Carolina at first, pretty close to the border with Georgia, somewhere called Greentown or Greenville, I can’t remember now. We were in a RV and had been travelling America and we heard all over the radio and on the news to get our arses to Atlanta asap but we couldn’t even get close, there were so many roadblocks and shit like that. We got stuck in one and we were there all night, luckily we had somewhere to sleep but others weren’t so lucky, we were completely oblivious to what was going on around us that night. A bunch of police officers had been making their way down the motorway and telling people to set up for the night and that we weren’t going anywhere so we locked the doors, pulled the curtains too and tried at getting some sleep.”  
They both stood and stared at her whilst she explained everything that had happened to her from that night on, when they awoke the next morning they found that everyone around them were either dead and walking around or dead and breakfast. They had locked themselves into the RV for three days after that, they barricaded the door and all sat huddled together, terrified and just waiting for some of the dead outside to realise they were in there. After three days they had run out of food, water was low and the toilet was disgusting, they knew they had to get out but no one had the courage, so they stayed there for a further 2 days.   
She explained how they had gotten out, there was an access hatch from the living room of the RV up to the roof where they could keep look out for any time they could get out, they found their opening and they had decided their best bet was to make their way to the back of the jam of cars and hope at least one had the keys still inside so they could turn the other way and get going. Their plan had gone off without a hitch, it seemed a lot of the dead had wandered off to places unknown and somehow with a stroke of luck they found another RV near enough at the back of the traffic jam with the keys still inside. They jumped inside and headed off, the wrong way down the motorway and back into South Carolina.  
“My story is just like everyone else's to be honest, we learned to survive, eventually we became ok with defending ourselves, we found people, good people, and bad. We lost a lot of people too.” Sarah couldn’t help herself but a tear began leaking down her face, the emotional scars of the deaths of her new found family still raw and deep, she attempted to rub the tear away with her shoulder but the pain in her side was too severe, her dark brown hair fell in front of her face and she flicked it back, not that it made much difference anyway, it was so full of mud and grease that it all clumped together.  
She carried on, her voice cracked a bit which she felt ashamed of, “About a week later we found a community, it had walls, still had electricity, running water, it was safe. The leader was a bit weird at first, had a real thick southern accent and insisted that everyone call him “The Governor” never did find out his real name, it didn’t take long for that to all go tits up, probably about two months. Me and six others left there and went back out on the road in the RV we had found and drifted from place to place, that was like 4 months ago,and the reason I was in those woods, well I was there to bury a body.”   
She looked up at the bearded man and saw his face drop, he was no stranger to burying bodies but it was the last thing he expected to hear from this young girl who looked no more than 25 and was English of all things.   
“It’s not what you think though, he was a friend, we’d been out in the woods for a while, we were with a bigger group all living in the RV we managed to escape in, occasionally finding a house or barn to hunker down in for a night or two. We were staying in a barn and the moron on watch had found some weed which he smoked whilst on duty and he ended up falling asleep. He hadn’t noticed the horde making their way through, probably about 50 or so, he only noticed when it was too late and one of them were sinking their teeth into his flesh, then another and another. The screaming woke us up, there were 15 of us, everyone scrambled and panicked as the walkers started piling through the door, we managed to take a few of them down but it didn’t take long for us to get overwhelmed, I saw people, my family, being bitten, knowing there was nothing I could do for them except sink a knife into their skull, with every person that was killed I felt my heart ripped to pieces. Me and my friend Tom had managed to get out, and we ran, we ran as far and as fast as we could, we didn’t look back, we couldn’t, we just kept going. It was daylight by the time we stopped, the adrenaline had worn off and we were both exhausted, as luck would have it we found a little cabin, which was clear so we went in there to hide out.”  
Sarah paused for a moment, tears had breached the barriers and were pouring down her face, she spoke between sniffing and her voice cracking, she took some deep breaths and managed to compose herself.   
“It was only when we stopped and tried to regroup that we realised, Tom had been bitten, in the mad frenzy of trying to get out he had been caught by one. I checked my own body for bites and I was clean. Tom sat on the sofa in the small lodge and cried, he wasn’t ready to die, I mean who is? He knew he wouldn’t last forever in this world, I don’t think anyone can survive this long term.” Sarah was struggling to speak by this point, the occurrences she was speaking about had only happened a few days ago and no amount of death was going to get her used to having to say goodbye to the few people she saw as family.   
“He made me kill him, he had gone into the kitchen and grabbed a knife from one of the drawers and had thrust it into my hand and…” her voice trailed off, she didn’t need to say it, they knew what she had had to do, they had both been in the same situation. 

Sarah sat there sobbing, the last few days that she was walking aimlessly around the woods she had felt empty and broken, unable to think about what had happened, unable to understand it. The two men stood there awkwardly, looking at each other and managing to communicate without words, they both knew what each other was thinking, she seemed genuine, but they had met some people who appeared as real as she did now, and she could just be a really good actress.  
After a few deep breaths Sarah had composed herself enough to carry on, “I was exhausted, I haven’t had anything to drink in days and I can’t remember the last time I ate anything. I hate to be rude and you’ve already done more for me than I can ever repay when you saved me out there but do you have any food, a little water I could have?”  
“We’ll get you some soon” said the second man as he moved over to Sarah and sat on the edge of the bed, “I just have three questions I’d like to ask you first.”  
Sarah looked at him quizzically, had she not already told them enough, she was physically and emotionally drained from telling them everything about her, she didn’t have it in her to answer more.  
He shuffled on the bed and cleared his throat, he looked intently at her and said, “How many walkers have you killed?”   
She looked at him a little in disbelief, “Erm, I have no idea, I’ve don’t really keep count to be honest. I don’t know, like 50-60 or something maybe, probably more.”  
His face stayed unchanged, staring at her as if he could see into her soul, “How many people have you killed?” The way he was staring at her made her feel compelled to tell the truth, she looked down at her bound hands and between the two men before she said in a small quiet voice. “3.”  
The man tilted his head and inched closer to her and deployed his final question, “Why?”  
Why? That was a good question, but fuck Sarah didn’t want to answer it, she knew this was some sort of test, if she passed then she would get given food, water, medical help and maybe even be accepted into their group, this guy was obviously the leader and it was him who she would have to impress or at least convince this guy she was worthy or legit.  
Her voice was shaky when she began speaking, but she soon managed to get a hold of herself.  
“Well you know about the most recent one, my friend was bitten and he demanded that I do it, he didn’t have the courage and he didn’t want to become a walker, the first and second ones were on the same day, it was the night we left the community we were in. A long story short, it was all good when we first got there, we had our own beds, jobs to do, food in our bellies and they even had electricity still, everything was perfect. The leader, this Governor as he liked to call himself, he was ok to begin with but people could see being in charge was going to his head, he got creepy and then he got dangerous, enough that we wanted out, he had always said we had the right to leave whenever we wanted, we could take some supplies to start us off and we could even keep the RV but when we confronted him saying we wanted to leave there was always an excuse as to why we couldn’t. All our weapons were put in the armoury and he refused us entry to retrieve them, we had been saying to him everyday for a week that we wanted our supplies, wanted our weapons and we wanted to leave, well on day seven we decided to take matters into our own hands. Around midnight we broke into the armoury, inventory room and infirmary at the same time and took what we could carry, we were going to have to fight our way out. We all met up again at the house we were given and split everything between us, there were eight of us and everything went off without a hitch, some of us went to the RV and others slipped out over the fence and hid in the tree line with all different kinds of guns to help if things went south. Me and three others made our way to the RV and drove it the front gate, the people standing guard refused to open the gate and the Governor was called down to sort it out. There was an altercation and again he refused to let us go, but this time he threatened to kill anyone who let us leave, and threatened to kill us if we didn’t go back to our homes.”  
Sarah went on to explain to the two men about how the Governor had singled her out and managed to get her in a headlock with a knife pressed to her throat, she even still had the scar to prove it. Their people outside had heard the commotion and began shooting at the walls and any guards standing along the top which had caused enough of a distraction for her to disarm him, she had tried to turn and stab him, cause some sort of injury, she had swiped the knife at him and slashed across his face and catching his eye which enraged him enough to reach for his gun and begin to shoot wildly, one of which had hit Sarah as she was trying to run away and hit her in the left shoulder and the bullet lodged in the shoulder blade.  
“My path to the RV was blocked so I had to dive into a side alley and circle back around, I still had the Governor’s knife, I had my own knife and a handgun, I ran around a corner and collided with one of his men, we both fell to the floor and the rifle he was carrying fell to the floor and I had to act quickly.” Sarah recalled, she paused for a moment before carrying on, “I took my chance and stabbed him in the neck with the Governor’s knife, I managed to sling his rifle over my shoulder, my clothes were covered in his blood and I just ran, ran as fast as I could. When I came to the end of the alley way I could see a group of them using a jeep as cover and about to head towards the RV where everyone else was hiding, so I swung the rifle off my shoulder and start shooting towards them, I used to suck with a gun, I still do to be completely honest but I’ve gotten better. I saw one bullet go straight through someone’s skull and another hit someone in the leg but I think they managed to get away. I sprinted to the RV and we drove away, no one stopped us when we opened the gate and the last I saw was a group of about 20 walkers making their way through the open gate.”

They sat in silence for a moment, the man Sarah believed to be the leader stood up and took a switchblade out of his pocket and moved towards her restraints, he cut them off and undid the handcuffs, he gently rubbed the red marks that they had created on Sarah’s wrist. A moment later he looked her in the eyes and said, “My name is Rick Grimes, that over there is Daryl Dixon, and if you’d like to stay, welcome to our group. There are 20 of us and we’re actually living in a prison, we’ve been here a few months now and it’s safe, if you would like to move on then that’s ok, you can stay and rest up, we’ll give you some food, some water and you can go.”  
Sarah looked from Rick to Daryl and it didn’t take her long to decide, a smile spread across her face as she said the words, “Nice to meet you Rick and Daryl, I think i’ll stay”


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The next morning Sarah was awoken by a gentle old man who introduced himself as Hershel, he had assured her when she began panicking, unable to remember where she was for a few moments. Once she was calmed down he began looking over her multiple injuries and patching her up as he went along. He had a gentle nature about him, he made her feel at ease and was filling her in with their history and background, everything that had happened to them up to this point in time. He told her how Hershel and his family had been living in their family farm house when their groups collided, he told her the heartbreaking story of a little girl lost in the woods and how they had discovered her a week later in their barn where he had delusionally kept walkers, expecting a cure any day. One night a horde of walkers had walked through their land, destroying everything in its path and they were forced to leave, not all of them had managed to escape, but they were lucky enough to meet back up on the highway where they had initially met and had been on the road until they found this place.   
“Sounds like you guys have had it pretty hard” said Sarah, wincing when Hershel gently brushed some cleaning solution over the cuts on Sarah’s hands and face.  
“We’re not the only ones, I hope you don’t mind but Rick told me about your journey in this world and I just want to let you know we’re not like that, we’re a family here and hopefully you will be able to become a key part of that family.”   
“I hope so too” replied Sarah, “I know I’ve only met three of you so far, but I’ve got a good feeling about this place, speaking of which actually, when do I get to meet everyone and get the grand tour?”  
“Soon enough, we need to make sure you’re up to scratch first, if I have no concerns then hopefully today, latest of tomorrow.” Replied Hershel with a warm grin, his face has been enveloped by his white beard and made him look a little bit like Father Christmas, his warm eyes and kind nature put Sarah at ease almost instantly.

Hershel spent the next 20 minutes going over Sarah and her injuries with great detail, no cut was left untended and she even had to do some eye tests and balance test to make sure there was no residual problems caused by the many head injuries. After that he got up and excused himself and it was only then that Sarah realised Hershel was missing a leg and in its place was a makeshift prosthesis. Hershel limped out of the room and smiled at Sarah as he gently closed the door behind him, a few minutes later there was a knock on the door and Daryl opened it, poking his head around the corner.  
“Hey, uh, Rick asked me to come get you, he wants me to give you a tour of the place.” said Daryl, who stood in the doorway, face still covered in sweat and dirt, shuffled his weight between both legs as he waited for Sarah to get up and put her shoes on and grabbed a jacket, she clumsily tried to put it on but her rib injuries put a stop to that, Daryl walked over and helped her pull it on, his fingers brushed against the back of her neck and it sent a tingle down her spine. Daryl walked over to the door and help it open for her, this was the first time Sarah would see the rest of the prison seeing as she was unconscious when Daryl brought her in, the first thing she noticed was the smell, it was that tell tale smell of the dead that had seeped into everything and noticing her face Daryl said to her, “Never do get used to that smell do ya?”   
His gravely voice startled Sarah as she was so engrossed in taking in every detail around her, “Oh, yeah ain’t that the truth” replied Sarah, they carried on down the corridor until they came to a large orange door that Daryl slid open to a blindingly bright light, Sarah walked outside first and Daryl shut the door behind him.  
“Where best to start than outside?” said Daryl, leading the way down to the front gate where Sarah could see a huge crowd of walkers and four people with weapons varying from knives to crowbars, stabbing them through the holes in the metal fence. They took the short walk down to the main gate, going through three layers of fencing to where the crowd of walkers was forming. Daryl introduced Sarah to a young woman with a strong southern accent called Maggie who was Hershel’s daughter, a young asian man named Glenn who was married to Maggie and a young boy called Carl who was also the son of Rick, the leader of the place. They all gave Sarah a warm welcome which was short lived by the crowd of walkers getting a bit over excited from the extra dinner potential standing before them.  
Daryl showed her around the rest of the grounds, in one of the fields they had crops growing and even had some pigs in a pen and a horse they used for going out on short runs to save on using the cars. Daryl spoke of the history of their time at the prison, it had been completely overrun when they arrived and their desperation for a safe place fueled their determination to clear it, they had managed to do it without taking any casualties but Hershel had taken a chomp to the leg, Rick had taken drastic action and amputated his leg which had ultimately saved him.  
Sarah’s stomach was growling loudly by what they assumed was lunch time, no one wore watches and there were no clocks anymore so people told the time by the position of the sun and by guessing these days. Daryl showed her to the canteen they have through a series of corridors, through two large double doors was a large room with faded yellow tiles and peeling wallpaper hanging off the walls, over in the far end was a long unit where the food used to be kept with the kitchen behind it and most of the free space was taken up by plastic tables and benches all bolted to the ground. They walked over to the small queue of people lining up behind the counter all of whom either greeted Daryl with a smile or a nod. Daryl picked up two trays and handed one to Sarah, after a short wait they were holding out their trays and receiving their lunch and taking a seat opposite each other.  
“What the hell is this?” asked Sarah, poking at her food with her fork, it was some sort of meat sitting in a stew and a heavy stodgy piece of bread.   
“Mixture of squirrel and rabbit” replied Daryl through mouthfuls, “Caught a bunch on a run the other day.”  
They sat and ate the rest of their lunch with Sarah asking more questions about their group, she could tell Daryl was keen to get going again and finish the tour, he had a lot of things to do and they were losing daylight. The rest of the tour went off without a hitch, they managed to cover the rest of the prison that Sarah needed to see and chatted the whole way around, sharing stories and even telling jokes. He showed her the inventory room where they held all their supplies, it was a large room with the most supplies Sarah had seen in a long time, they had food, weapons, tools, tanks of water, toiletries like shampoo and body wash and even a working freezer, after that the library, the recreation area, the showers and lastly the living quarters. Daryl opened a large metal door and ushered Sarah up a flight of stairs and down a catwalk and finally to an open cell door halfway down the line.  
“This is your room” said Daryl holding an arm out and pointing into the room, “it’s nothing fancy, just a standard room, mine’s next door.” When he said that last sentence they looked at each other and both blushed, he thought to himself how bad it sounded. To avoid any awkwardness Sarah walked into her new room and saw sitting on the bottom bunk of the bed was her backpack, some new clothes, a pair of boots, spare bedding and two pillows.   
“Oh my god” whispered Sarah as she rushed over and sat on the bed, she pulled her backpack towards her and immediately began searching through it, after frantically searching through it for a few seconds she slowly exhaled and a smile spread across her face from ear to ear. Daryl stood in the doorway, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, a slight grin on his face, Sarah looked up at Daryl with tears in her eyes as she pulled out an old crumped book with frayed edges and a broken spine, she held it close to her chest as she couldn’t believe she still had it. She began thumbing through the pages of the book and was welcomed by the warm smiling faces of her friends and family and people she had met on her adventure across America with her two best friends before the world had gone to shit. She rushed over to Daryl and pulled him into an embrace, it hurt her ribs like hell but she didn’t care, he was tense at first with his arms by his side but he soon wrapped his arms around her and held her as she cried and over and over said “thank you so much, you have no idea how much this means to me, thank you so much.”  
Standing at 5 foot 7 Sarah was short enough to lay her head on his chest as he rested his chin on the tip of her head, they stood like this for a while, they both lost track and eventually Sarah pulled away from the embrace and wiped her eyes and sniffed, “I’m sorry, you don’t even know me and you don’t strike me as the hugging type. I just needed that for a second.”   
Daryl looked down at Sarah, her dark blue eyes glistening like the ocean with tears threatening to spill over her cheeks at any moment and told her not to worry about it, he gets how difficult people find adjusting to a new place especially when they’ve been through so much and lost so many people like she had. He placed his hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze and before he could stop himself he was gently running his thumb back and forth.  
“Uh, oh, I uh, I gotta go, I’ll leave you to settle in. If you need anything just holler to anyone along here and they’ll help you out” said Daryl quickly and he was striding out of the room and down the steps before Sarah could say anything.  
“Well shit” uttered Sarah, placing her right hand on the spot where Daryl had touched her bare skin and could still feel the electricity of his touch. She sat on the bed for a few moment and began rummaging through her backpack once again, placing the book under her pillow and various trinkets and belongings around the room. Once she was done unpacking she laid down on the bed and quickly fell asleep, she had a warm feeling rising from her stomach and had the best sleep she had had in months.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

The next few weeks seemed to fly by, Sarah had been welcomed with open arms into the group by most people, she had met everyone and almost learned her way around the maze of endless corridors and only gets lost a few times a week instead of every time she ventured out of her room.  
She had been allowed a week to properly heal and settle in before they assigned her a job, she had sat with Rick, Daryl and a woman named Carol and they had a long talk about what her strengths are and where she felt she would be the most useful. Daryl sat quietly looking at her intently, there had been an air of awkwardness between them since she had hugged him and cried into his muddy shirt, there had been one time she had walked in on him coming out of the shower and they frequently bumped into each other outside their rooms. Sarah felt his gaze burn into her and she could feel herself getting flustered and distracted whenever she made eye contact with him so she tried concentrating on what Rick and Carol were saying. After talking for about half an hour they settled on the idea of having her work in inventory, she’d be working with Carol and Sarah was more than happy with that, she would be helping Carol keep track of the food, water, medicine, weapons and ammunition and general items such as toiletries and sundries, she would also be in charge of letting Daryl know what they needed to get on their next scheduled run. Daryl was in charge of the supply runs so he co-ordinated who he would take with him and where they would go depending on what supplies they were running low on, the thought of working closely with Daryl both excited and nerved Sarah, it had been a long time since she had felt like this when someone looked at her and she felt like a teenager again, not knowing if he felt the same or whether she was imagining things.

 

Sarah and Carol stood in the dank inventory room, there were no windows and the room   
had shelves that spanned from the floor to the ceiling, with a trunk in the middle of the room where they stored ammunition along side a chest freezer. On the left wall they had food and water, huge cans and tins full of beans, peas, spam, spaghetti hoops, tinned fruit and veg. They had ingredients such as sugar, flour, baking soda, tea, coffee, cocoa powder and huge containers of water like the ones you would get for a water cooler, on the right there were all different types of clothes ranging from children to adult and for all different seasons which is also where things like shower gel and toothpaste was kept. On the last wall in front was full of tools ranging from shovels to screwdrivers to hammers to rakes, they were mainly used for gardening and used in the grounds but were also taken out on runs so they didn’t have to rely on their guns which attracted too much attention from other people and walkers.  
“You ok finishing up in here? Rick said he wanted to see me before the day was over” Asked Carol, they had been doing their daily inventory of all the weapons and tools before Daryl and the others got back from their run so they knew that everything was accounted for.  
“Yeah sure, I got this.” answered Sarah, giving Carol a smile as she took the clipboard and pen from Carol's out stretched hands, by Sarah’s count she had been working in inventory for three weeks now so she knew the ins and outs of the daily routine.  
“I’ll be back soon to help with the new stuff Daryl will have coming in, they should be back soon.” said Carol as she was on her way out of the door, closing it behind her. 

Sarah spent the next couple of hours finishing up checking everything was in it’s rightful place, almost everything was ticked off except for a screwdriver which she swore she had seen earlier. She began hunting around the room and saw it wedged between the freezer and trunk, she tried pushing the trunk out of the way but proved impossible, the weight of the ammunition made it weigh far too much for her to move. Instead she leant over the trunk and tried reaching down between the gap to retrieve the screwdriver which was just an inch out of her reach, after wiggling her fingers she finally managed to get a hold of it and carefully pulled her arm out of the gap and stood up and brushed her brown hair out of her face, they had actual showers with hot water, a limited amount of hot water but still, she had managed to wash her hair in an actual shower and not using pond water for the first time in a very long time, she felt settled here in this place and with her ribs healed she could get a lot more involved. Once she stood up and turned around and screamed at the dark figure standing behind her.  
“Holy shit!” she cried, wielding the screwdriver in defence ready to attack at the dark figure advancing towards her.  
“Hey, chill, it’s just me” said Daryl, moving out of the shadows and into the light where Sarah could see his forever dirty, sweat covered face.   
“You fucking terrified me, I thought you were a walker or something. Would it kill you to say something when you enter a room and stand in the dark, I could have killed you, or at least gouged your fucking eye out or something. Fucking hell.”  
Daryl stood there and smirked at her, which pissed Sarah off, she wasn’t kidding when she said she could have killed him, she’d used much less to kill a walker and her natural reflex these days was to go for the brain. He stood there and rubbed his hands with a rag he took out of his pocket, waiting for her to finish her rant and thinking she looked awful cute when she was mad, especially the little wrinkle that appears above between her eyebrows when she’s cross.  
“You quite done?” he asked, with a stupid smirk across his face.  
Sarah stood and stared at him, wanting to hit him for being such an idiot and even more for the smirk on his face which drove her crazy and spread butterflies through her stomach at the same time.  
“Yes actually. Where is everyone with the supplies anyway?” asked Sarah, looking behind Daryl expecting to see a queue of people with bags and boxes of supplies.  
“Tara got hurt out on the run, don’t worry she’s fine, she didn’t get bit, it got a bit dicey and she ended up falling and fucked up her ankle. Tyreese has taken her up to the infirmary and I told Glenn to leave the supplies for now, he’s off with Maggie, up to who knows what.” Daryl replied he stared at Sarah and ruffled his hair whilst shifting his weight between his feet.  
They both felt a strange sensation between them, they were both silent just looking at each other but it felt exciting and intense. Before Sarah could say anything Daryl cleared the space between them with three large strides and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her close to him and kissing her. Sarah kissed him back as her arms reached up and wrapped them behind his neck, she ran her hands through his hair and caressed his face, Daryl’s hands explored the curves of her body, both hands started around her waist, pulling her closer to him, then his hands were running along her lower back, over her hips and cupping her arse and squeezing it making a small moan escape from behind Sarah’s lips. Daryl pulled away and began kissing Sarah’s neck and gently biting her neck, Sarah pushed her hips closer to his and she could feel Daryl getting hard, soon they were kissing again, their tongues eagerly exploring each others mouths. He pushed her backwards towards the freezer and lifted her up so she was sitting on the top, Sarah spread her legs and Daryl found his place between them, she wrapped her legs around his waist and pulled him close where they stayed and continued kissing for who knows how long.  
All of a sudden Daryl stopped kissing Sarah and rested his forehead against hers, licking his lips he pulled himself away from her, he took Sarah’s hands in his and kissed her knuckles.  
“I’m sorry, but I just couldn’t hold back anymore” panted Daryl, his lips red from Sarah’s lip gloss, “we should stop too, before someone walks in on us.”  
“I know you’re right but fuck, when can we do that again?” asked Sarah, they both laughed and Daryl walked back over to Sarah and kissed her slowly and passionately.  
“Don’t worry, we’ll be doing it again soon if I have my way” he replied teasingly.  
It was good they finished when they did, a few short minutes after they managed to pull themselves away from each other and straighten up, Glenn and Carol were pushing the door open and bringing in crates of supplies. Sarah began unpacking the crates and piling everything in front of the area it will eventually be placed, it was hard to concentrate on anything though with Daryl still in the room and both all hot and flustered. Every now and again they caught each other’s eye and smiled or blushed, it didn’t take Carol long to cotton onto what was happening and once everything was sorted away, Glenn excused himself and Carol told Sarah to head on out and get some food, it had been a long day and she looked hungry.  
“Oh, er sure, I’ll see you there.” said Sarah, sounding a bit disappointed she wouldn’t be able to carry on her teenage make out session with Daryl, but now she said it Sarah realised how hungry she was and made her way to the canteen.  
Once Sarah was out of the room Daryl attempted to excuse himself as well, but Carol was having none of it.  
“Hold on you.” Said Carol with her stern tone of voice which she had mastered from being a mother and also being in charge of keeping people like Daryl in line.  
Daryl stopped on his heel and turned around to face Carol who was standing in the middle of the room with her arms crossed and a ‘I know what you did’ look on her face. He walked back over to her and waited for her to start her lecture.  
“You don’t even know this girl” she started, but Daryl was quick to interrupt her.  
“Carol you don’t need to give me the talk, I know I barely know her but time isn’t really a luxury people have these days. At the risk of sounding soppy I haven’t felt like this with a girl in a fucking long time and I think after everything that’s happened to us, to her, everything that’s gonna happen, I think we deserve this. It might be a bit of fun, it might be something more, but I’m not going to find out unless I act on it, which is what I did, so fucking sue me. I like her and from the way she kissed me back she likes me too, if you have a problem with it then I’m sorry.” Daryl looked at Carol after his rant and was surprised to see she was smiling, Daryl had always been closed off and had problems with expressing his feelings, they had found some good wine on a run and they had all gotten tipsy one night and Daryl and Carol had spent hours just talking, ever since then they had Carol had been the one Daryl went to to talk to and confide in.  
“You seem to know what you want, just not during work hours ok? She has a lot of work to do and you two making out like a couple of horny teenagers isn’t going to get things done.” said Carol, raising her right eyebrow at him and patting him on the shoulder as they both left the room. Carol took out a key from her jeans pocket which had a dolphin keyring attached to it and locked the door behind her, and placed the key back into her pocket.  
“I hope you know what you’re doing Daryl, if things go south then you two can’t exactly just avoid each other you know. Remember what it was like to be around Tyreese and Michonne after they ended?” said Carol condescendingly.  
Daryl didn’t say anything, he just grunted to let Carol know he wasn’t ignoring her, but he didn’t care what might happen, all he knew was he liked this girl and he could barely concentrate on where he was walking as he licked his lips and could still taste the sweet taste of Sarah’s lip gloss.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

As Sarah made her way towards the canteen she felt as if she was walking on clouds, she could still feel his hands on her, could still feel the heat of his lips on hers and she was so absorbed into what just happened that he bumped straight into Rick as he walked around the corner.  
“Shit, sorry” said Sarah as she collided with Rick who himself was absorbed into his own thoughts .  
“Hey, no my bad.” he replied. “You seem to be in a world of your own as well there.” Rick laughed and Sarah did too.  
“Err yeah you could say that.” She smiled at Rick who gave her a bit of a suspicious look, she looked flustered and hot and bothered, pushing it out of his mind sure of himself that it was nothing he carried on.  
“You heading to get some dinner?” He asked, pointing to the direction of the canteen from where he had just come.  
“Yeah, anything good today?” She asked, attempting small talk and knowing that it would just be pretty much the same food they always have, some sort of pasta, rice or stew with a woodland animal thrown in for some protein.  
“Same old I’m afraid, we’re yet to hit the jackpot and come across a working McDonalds or something yet.” said Rick, who gave a little chuckle.  
“Damn shame about that then” replied Sarah, “Well I best get going before all the good stuff is taken.” She waved Rick goodbye and carried on down the corridor where the smell of cooked meat and fresh tomatoes from the garden filled the air, the smell snapped her out of her daydream and she realised just how starving she was. Once she opened the doors to the canteen she felt eyes on her, knowing she was imagining things, but she felt so obvious, she was still the newest person here and she was paranoid even now after being here for a few weeks that people didn’t want her here.  
She collected her food and found a seat by itself, she began eating her dinner but her appetite disappeared as quickly as it came, she pushed her food around the plate and let her imagination run wild with the prospect of having Daryl’s hand on her again, she was so preoccupied she barely noticed when Michonne, Carol, Rick and Daryl sat at the table with her, the rest of the canteen had pretty much emptied so they decided to join her. Rick didn’t have any food, instead he had a notebook he carried with him everywhere, Daryl had sat next to her and brushed his fingers across her back as he had walked behind her, this jumped her back into reality and she smiled and greeted the new company.   
“I’m telling you, it’s a bad idea” stressed Daryl.  
“And I’m telling you it’s not” replied Rick, “We need more people going out on runs, with winter coming up Hershel’s not gonna be able to grow any fresh fruit and vegetables and everything else so we’re gonna need to stock up on food. The more people we have out there the more land we can cover, the more food and supplies we can find. It’s not ideal but we’re gonna have to do more overnight runs too, we’re clearing up the resources close by too quickly.”  
Daryl didn’t say anything, just grunted, he knew Rick was right of course, but he wasn’t going to make it easy for him, one of his favourite past times was giving Rick grief and arguing back just to watch him get wound up and up tight. Rick didn’t say anything, just gave Daryl a disapproving look, he glanced at Sarah and saw how little she had eaten.  
“You best eat up kiddo, you’re gonna need your strength.” Rick said to her and Sarah went bright red and was convinced it was written all over her face, to which Carol quickly jumped in and said.  
“Rick’s planning on getting more people out on runs, we need people who are comfortable out there and can handle themselves when things get tight. We all think you’d be great to do it, if you’d be ok with that of course.”  
Sarah froze for a moment, it had been a few weeks since she had been the other side of the gates, it didn’t seem like a lot but the thought of going back out there made her nervous, the last time she was out there she had lost what was left of her family and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to face it again, picking up on this Daryl quickly jumped in.  
“You don’t have to decide now, we won’t be forcing anyone to go out there if they don’t want to.” Daryl gave her a comforting look and could see Sarah’s shoulders relax a bit.  
“Thanks, I’ll think about it, if that’s ok?” replied Sarah, the others nodded and all said it was ok, they all understood what it’s like out there and what it’s like to lose people.  
They all sat and ate and chatted for a while, once everyone had finished eating they continued to sit there and talk, they talked about upcoming plans for the prison they asked Sarah her opinion on what was short in the inventory and what they needed to gather most of, Sarah was doing really well and being attentive and hadn’t thought about what happened earlier even though Daryl was sitting close enough to her that their legs were touching, that was up until Daryl placed his left hand on her leg and began running his fingers up and down her thigh, teasing her but carrying on his conversation as if nothing was going on.   
Daryl hadn’t been as subtle as he thought he had though, after not even five minutes Carol had clocked what was happening and had given Daryl a swift kick under the table and when Rick had asked what the hell it was she had blamed it on a leg spasm, Daryl laughed under his breath and removed his hand from Sarah’s thigh and excused himself from the table and announced he was going to head back to his room for an early night and gave Sarah a wink.  
Annoyingly Sarah didn’t get the chance to escape from the group talking for what felt like at least an hour, they were joined by Maggie, Glenn and Hershel and it was impossible to find the opportunity to excuse herself, eventually once everyone had finished eating they decided to move onto the rec room where it was a bit more comfortable and Sarah saw her chance.   
“Actually you guys, I’m gonna go have a shower and get an early night, it’s been a busy day down in inventory and my back hurts a bit.” explained Sarah, hoping none of them questioned her further.  
“No worries Sarah, sleep well and let me know about your back in the morning, I might have a few stretches that might help you out.” replied Michonne, Sarah liked her, she had found the group when they were already at the prison and she had been the new one for a while so she knew how Sarah was feeling.  
“Thanks Michonne, that sounds great” said Sarah, genuinely touched by Michonne’s helpfulness, she walked out of the corridor until she was out of sight of the others and then took off in a jog, finding her way through the maze of corridors she found her way back to her cell block in record time, she climbed the steps two at a time and as she reached the top she composed herself, wiping a small bit of sweat from her face and fixing her hair she walked down towards Daryl’s room, the cell door was almost closed the whole way and he had a sheet hanging over the door to get a bit of privacy, she took a deep breath, readjusted her top by undoing a couple buttons and showing a hint of cleavage, she wiped down her jeans with her hands and again ran her fingers through her hair to try and get rid of some of the tangles. She gently tapped on the concrete wall and waited to hear Daryl’s gravely voice telling her to come in but it never came, she knocked again and still again no answer, she pushed the curtain to one side and peered inside to see an empty cell, feeling disappointed Sarah let the curtain fall back and pushed back the curtain into her own room and jumped again when she saw a dark figure reclined on her bed, she switched on her lamp and there she saw Daryl laying there with that stupid smirk on his face that Sarah loved and hated.   
Sarah bit her lip which instantly got Daryl heated, he climbed off her bed and slowly walked towards her, he had already removed his muddy boots and appeared to have clean his face as for the first time it wasn’t covered in sweat, blood and dirt. He gently held Sarah’s chin with his hand and lifted her head so they were looking at each other directly in the eye, his thumb caressed her soft lips and he closed his eyes as he leaned in to his her deeply, slow at first but quickening as desire rose from his stomach up to his chest which spread a warm feeling all around his body. Once again Sarah’s arms rose and found their place behind his neck and she pulled him closer, his hands skimmed her hips and rested on her firm behind, this is how they stayed for a while, enjoying the intimacy of the touch of another person they soon became lost in each other and the world around them melted away, in this instant it was just them and no one else.  
Sarah pulled away from their kiss and grabbed Daryl by the hand, she led him over to her bed where she gently pushed him onto it, he sat on the edge of her bed and watched as she moved over to the cell door and closed it shut. She turned around and sensuously walked over to him and stood just out of arms reach, her fingertips began working on the buttons of her shirt, one at a time she teasingly revealed more flesh for him to enjoy and she slid her shirt off her shoulders revealing her breasts which were cradled in an understated black bra, her pert nipples poking through the thin fabric. She let her shirt drop to her side and she then turned around so her back was facing him, she unbuckled her belt and pulled at the end so it slid around her hips and then let that too drop to the ground. Hooking her thumbs in the belt loops of her jeans she began slowly grinding her hips and pulled down the jeans an inch at a time until her matching black panties made their appearance, she bent over at the hip and pulled her jeans down her long legs still wiggling her hips in Daryl’s face and stepped out of her jeans and kicked them across the room. It was at this point Daryl could not contain himself any longer, he jumped up and pushed her against the wall, Sarah could feel his erection through his trousers and knew he couldn’t wait much longer which made the tease all the more pleasureable.   
Daryl’s hands explored Sarah’s body, cupping her breasts, squeezing them and kissing her neck she felt more desire than she had ever felt in her life, Daryl turned her around and they began kissing again, more fiercely this time as Daryl took control. Sarah’s fingers made quick work of unbuttoning Daryl’s shirt she pushed his leather vest and shirt off his shoulders and began working on his belt buckle, Daryl was preoccupied with kissing Sarah’s neck that the sound of oncoming footsteps made them both stop in their tracks. They stopped and Sarah held her breath as the footsteps got closer and closer and she did not release until they had passed the door and carried on to the end of the catwalk, when they heard the telltale noise of a cell door closing they both looked at each other and suppressing a giggle they continued as if the interruption never happened. Daryl finished off removing his jeans and picked Sarah up, as she wrapped her legs around his waist he effortlessly carried her over to the bed and lowered her down to it.  
With her legs spread Daryl rested his hips between them, Sarah could feel his erection pressing against her as she pulled him close, his hands ran up her hips which made her push harder against him, his calloused fingers tickled her delicate skin as he unhooked her bra and letting it fall to the floor. Without a moment’s hesitation he ran a series of kisses down her jawline, over her collarbone and down towards her breasts, cupping her right breast and squeezing it gently he ran his tongue over her nipple in a clockwise direction before sealing his mouth around her nipple and began sucking, adding in the occasional nibble which sent shivers shooting down to her clitoris. Daryl ran another series of kisses across her chest and repeating the process with her left breast, except this time as he was teasing her left nipple he ran his right hand down her stomach and under the waistband of her underwear, he began massaging her clitoris, slowly at first but fast increasing the speed, she was breathing heavily at the point and was soaking wet, she spread her legs as far as she could to ease his access where he promptly inserted his middle finger, followed by his index finger where he began massaging her vagina.   
Daryl yanked her black panties off and quickly moved his face down between her legs and continued to caress her with his fingers and used his tongue to stimulate her clitoris, Sarah arched her back and her legs began to shake as the pleasure built and built to the point of climax, Daryl continued to make circular motions with his tongue over her throbbing clitoris as her body sent shockwaves to all her nerve endings, a single moan escaped from her mouth and she clamped her hand over her mouth to suppress the rest. Once her body had stopped vibrating from pleasure Daryl made his way back up towards Sarah’s face and kissed her deeply, his tongue sensuously darting into her mouth letting her see how she tasted.  
Sarah pushed Daryl off her and got up on her knees, Daryl laid back on the bed and Sarah took her position at the foot of the bed, she crawled towards him, she put her hands around the waistband of his underwear and pulled down exposing his impressive member. His penis throbbed with desire and Daryl was worried he’d blow his load too early, his concentration showed on his face with made the devil in Sarah appear, she ran her tongue along the length of his engorged penis until she reached the head of it, she placed it in her mouth and ran her tongue around his helmet, but before Daryl could really prepare himself she began sucking deeply and ran her lips down his shaft, she didn’t go slowly at all she went straight into quickly bobbing her head up and down, quickly devouring it all into her mouth, she looked up at him and could see he was close so she slowed it down a bit, removing his penis from her mouth she went back to gently licking the shaft of his penis with the tip of her tongue and began alternating between licking the hood of his penis and sucking.   
“Fuuuuck” whispered Daryl as Sarah sped up the pace again, cupping his testicles between her fingers and giving them a gentle squeeze blew his mind, he looked down at her as she looked up and they locked eyes, she was enjoying this and decided to reward him for his stellar job, she sped up the pace faster and faster until it was too much for Daryl and he ejaculated into her mouth. Sarah wholeheartedly swallowed all of it and licked her lips and smiled, she climbed on top of him and kissed him deeply, returning the favour of showing him how he tasted. Sarah collapsed on top of him, their naked, sweaty bodies intertwined in a tangle of arms and legs, they were both panting and trying to catch their breath, Daryl wasn’t done with her yet by a long shot, being a young and active man it wasn’t long until he felt the blood pumping to his penis again, he shot Sarah a knowing look at which she returned the smirk. She reached down and grabbed his penis in her hand and began working her hand up and down it, stroking it gently and again getting faster and faster until he was fully erect again.   
Swapping positions again Daryl laid Sarah down on her back as she opened her legs wide, she was still wet from before but Daryl quickly massaged her clitoris relentlessly until she was close again, he climbed between her eager legs and guided his cock towards her, gently pressing the tip around her vagina, wanting her to ask for it, wanting her to beg.  
“Uhh, just do it, please, I need you.” she whispered into his ear, music to his ears, he began pushing his cock inside her, he felt her muscles around his penis and began thrusting more, and more, and more until he was fully inside her, thrusting harder and she grinded her hips at the same time, her breast bounced up and down with each thrust. Her arms were around his shoulders and he could hear her moaning in his ear which pushed him on to go harder and faster into her.  
“Uhh yeah, oh god, oh god, yeah, right there, fuck me harder Daryl, keep going” she moaned into his ear, she didn’t know how loud they were being, right now neither of them cared, they were moving together completely in rhythm with each other and they forgot about the world, all that mattered right now was them two, being together the way they were now. Daryl held out until Sarah had again reached climax before pulling out and ejaculating over her stomach, once he was done he collapsed down onto the bed and Sarah moved so she was laying on her side and Daryl laid on his side behind her, their hot sweaty, now sticky, bodies held together as Daryl wrapped his arm around Sarah’s waist and they laid there, panting out of breath, for who knows how long, just them two in their own separate world away from everyone else, the pain they have experienced and away from the nightmares of the walking dead.

They both must have fallen asleep because when they woke up sunlight was beaming through the windows outside and falling through a gap in the curtain, the sunlight cascaded on their faces, as Daryl awakened he tightened his hold around her waist and pulled the blanket more over their bodies as he could feel Sarah shivering. Sarah turned her head and looked over her shoulder at him, blinking in the harsh sunlight she smiled and he leaned in to kiss her, as their lips touched they both had flashbacks of the night before and it took everything they both had to pull themselves apart. Daryl moved so he was laying on his back and stretched his arms out, Sarah moved her head so it was resting on his bicep and her head on his chest, Daryl began gently playing with Sarah’s hair, running the long strands through his fingers and then all of a sudden they both looked at each other and realised that the sun which had rudely awakened them had probably woke everyone else up, making their secret rendezvous a lot more obvious if people saw Daryl sneaking out of her room.  
They both got up and began dressing, neither of them had time for a shower so using a pack of wet wipes Sarah kept in her room they cleaned themselves up as much as was possible and began dressing again, watching Sarah bend over to collect her clothes from the floor got Daryl’s heart pumping again, he tore his gaze away as he stood into his jeans and pulled them up, all he wanted to do was go and tear off Sarah’s clothes again but he knew he couldn’t, he had a lot to do today and even less time to get it done.  
Once they were both dressed they stood in a tight embrace in the middle of her room, not wanting to leave Daryl planted a kiss on her lips, Sarah reciprocated and she ran her hands over his firm buttocks and squeezed. This caused Daryl to smile widely as they pulled away from each other, he rested his forehead against hers, being at least 6 inches taller than Sarah meant he towered over her.   
“Ok, you go out first to check to coast is clear, and I’ll follow after” said Daryl, giving her one last kiss before they had to go back to acting as if nothing had happened until the next time they could steal away a little privacy.  
“Alright, I don’t know how I’m gonna get anything done today, all I’m gonna be able to think about is last night. I’ll see you later, ok?” said Sarah, who stole away one more kiss before sliding open the cell door and exiting her room. Daryl stood and listened to her footsteps moving away and heard her cough three times, their signal that the coast was clear, Daryl looked around the room to make sure he had everything and pushed the curtain aside and walked out the room and quickly into his own room. He grabbed his knife and holstered his gun, he brushed his fingers through his hair to rid himself of the telltale sex hair and left his room where he walked in the direction Sarah had gone, Rick had said he wanted to talk to Daryl when today about something so he headed his way towards cell block A where Rick lived.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Daryl stood outside Rick’s room after tapping on the metal bars, he pulled back the curtain and was surprised to see Daryl standing there.  
“Hey, where were you this morning? I came by your room to talk about these extra runs we’re gonna be doing and you weren’t there. I tried looking all over for you.” asked Rick, he sounded concerned, if anyone goes missing these days the mind always wanders to the worst case scenario of them being walker food.  
“Oh, I went for a walk outside, I couldn’t sleep so thought I’d get an early start on things and just lost track of time.” replied Daryl, he ran his fingers through his hair but stopped himself, Rick knew when Daryl was lying or avoiding something and his tell was running his fingers through his hair.  
Rick stared at Daryl, knowing he was lying and trying to hide something, he didn’t press the matter yet though, they had a lot to cover and not much time to do it.  
“Well now you’re here we can get started, Rick went back into his room and grabbed his gun which was on the cabinet he used as a bed side table and picked up his notebook, he closed the cell door and they began walking towards the exit and went outside to a collection of picnic tables overlooking the grounds at the front of prison, they could see Hershel and five others working on the garden getting as much harvested as they could, with it being well into Autumn they wouldn’t be able to plant anything else to grow, so they had to get everything ready for winter, Hershel saw them looking over and gave them a wave and a smile to which they returned. Beyond the garden was the entrance gate, the crowd of walkers was just as big as the day Sarah had arrived they anticipate that it will lessen as they reach the colder winter months and the sleet and snow will hopefully slow them down.  
They took a seat on one of the picnic benches and Rick placed the notebook in front of him, he opened the notebook to a page covered in notes and scribbles and began talking about the plans for expanding the runs, Daryl wasn’t paying attention to a word he was saying and sat there chewing on his thumb nail. Rick looked up at Daryl and he stopped talking and stared at him for a moment.  
“Daryl are you even paying attention to anything I’m saying?” Rick asked sternly, feeling pissed off with his friend completely ignoring everything he just said in the last 5 minutes.   
“Shit I’m sorry Rick, got a lot on my mind is all.” replied Daryl, looking at Rick and chewing on his thumb nail again. “You know, with these extra runs and all, means I’m gonna have a lot more to do, more work load y’know, with everything going on and that.”   
“What do you mean? What you got on your mind?” asked Rick, “Daryl you know I’m not stupid right?” Rick paused as Daryl looked at him, “I seen the way you are with that new girl, even from when she first woke up and me and you were talking to her. The way you looked at her when she was talking about her experience, hanging on her every word.”  
“You don’t know what you’re talking about Rick, ain’t nothing goin’ on” Daryl said, attempting a tone that would make Rick think he was imagining things.  
“Oh really, nothing going on? Then why did you have your hand on her leg yesterday in the canteen and I spoke to Hershel last night, he saw you go into her room last night and not come back out.” Rick had a smile on his face and knew he had caught Daryl out, Daryl sat there not knowing what to say.  
“Hmm, not really much I can say then is there. Save the lecture though, already had one from Carol and could do without one from you too.” snapped Daryl.  
Rick just laughed, “You think I have any authority in telling you not to see someone in the group? After Lori I was a wreck for a long long time, but now I’m with Andrea and I’m happier than I thought I could be. I hope it works out well with you two I really do. Only thing I will say is make sure on your next run make sure you get extra condoms, we’ve got a lot more couples here now so unless you want a bunch of babies around we need to make sure everyone takes the right precautions”  
“Put that on your list of shit for the extra runs.” Daryl laughed as he said it, it made him feel better now it was out in the open, “Can we keep this between us though? We haven’t really spoke about what we are and shit like that.”  
“Yeah of course, no problem. Anyway about these runs.” Rick continued to talk about his plans for the runs coming up, he had a list of potential people who could be involved based on their age, health and ability with weapons. Out of the 21 people who lived there only 4 people ever really went out on run, occasionally they had up to 6, Rick’s new plan would see Daryl have a pool of 10 people to choose from, meaning they could send out two teams at once and still be able to function back at the prison.   
“Ok so all together we’ll have you, me, Michonne, Carol, Tyreese, Maggie, Glenn, Sasha, Tara and Sarah.” Rick listed off, when he said the last name Daryl looked up with a concerned expression on his face. “I’ve put Sarah down because we asked her about it yesterday and she seemed pretty interested, it’s not a definite list yet, I need to talk to a couple more people, the list might even expand yet, Carl’s determined to start going out on runs more often and Andrea has said if he starts going she’s going to start going to help too.” explained Rick.  
“If Sarah does go out on any runs she’s going in my team, not that I don’t trust the others but I’d rather have her with me.” demanded Daryl, he wasn’t happy at the idea of Sarah going out on runs, he knew how dangerous it was and it only takes a second for things to go terribly wrong. He’s seen people die at the tiniest thing, being distracted gets you killed.  
“That’s fair, but you need to know that sometimes she might have to go with the other team without you, it all comes down to numbers” explained Rick, he knew where Daryl was coming from, he would feel the same if Andrea started going out on runs more often, she had gone out on runs in the early days of being at the farm and the prison but after her sister was killed on a run she hadn’t been able to go anymore without having a breakdown. With Rick’s help she had been able to go back out there, they started small, just standing outside was a big step for Andrea, but as each day went by she got further and further until she was able to go out there again.  
Daryl understood what Rick was saying but he didn’t have to listen to him, he nodded his head to stop Rick from giving him a lecture but Daryl knew that would happen over his dead body. They finished up their conversation and Daryl excused himself so he could go find where Sarah had gone off to, he wanted to talk to her about what Rick had said and see how she felt about it all. He made his way towards the inventory, luckily not bumping into anyone on his way, he rounded the corner and saw a beam of light shining through the slightly open door as he neared the door he could hear Sarah and Carol talking on the other side.  
“You two need to be careful is all I’m saying, Daryl’s had his fair share of heartache, he’s closed off, very reserved at times, every person who’s died … he’s taken their deaths pretty hard, he’s a sweet guy but doesn’t like to let people see it.” He heard Carol say.  
“I know we don’t really know each other very well, but I feel like I’ve known him my entire life, I know it sounds like a cliche but shit I don’t care, there’s just something special about him. I want to get to know him, I just want to be with him, I don’t know how long we’ll both be around, every time he goes the other side of those gates it makes me sick to my stomach, but I want to be with him for the rest of the time I have left in this world.” replied Sarah, “It sounds so disgustingly gushy, but it’s the truth.”  
“Well it sounds like Daryl has chosen well, I was worried I might have to read you the riot act about treating him well but it seems it would be a waste of breath.” Carol smiled warmly at Sarah and walked over to her and gave her a hug, if Daryl liked her then so did she.  
Daryl could see through the crack in the doorway that they were hugging so decided to leave and maybe come back later, Sarah had been struggling with talking to people here and he didn’t want to interrupt something, Sarah was special to Daryl, as was Carol and with them getting on so well he couldn’t ask for anything better. He turned on his heel to make his way back down the corridor to go see if he could loan a hand to Hershel with getting the crops harvested but as he turned he hadn't realised his laces has become loose and that he was standing on one of them so as he tried to walk away he stumbled down, hitting his chin on the hard concrete. Before he even had a chance to get up and disappear Carol was pulling open the door, ready to attack in case of a walker, she stopped dead in her tracks when she saw a mortifyingly embarrassed Daryl Dixon in a heap on the floor with blood on his chin and began laughing, it was only a chuckle to begin with but had soon advanced to a full belly laugh, struggling to breath and with tears in her eyes she tried apologising for laughing but couldn't get the words out. Once she had started laughing a curious Sarah appeared at her shoulder who smirked and began giggling herself, she tried not to but couldn't help it, they both knew their laughing would put Daryl in a sulk but there was so little to laugh about recently, they weren't going to pass up this opportunity any time soon.  
Daryl composed himself and got up, he'd bruised his ego as much as his chin and could feel himself getting annoyed at the two women laughing at him.  
“Stop laughing. Wasn't even funny" sulked Daryl as he made his way down the corridor, ignoring Sarah and Carol as they called after him. He rounded the corner and heard hurried footsteps behind him, he turned and saw Sarah jogging down the corridor and just stared until she caught up with him.  
"I'm so sorry I laughed, but you have to admit it was pretty funny" laughed Sarah, when Daryl started mumbling about how it wasn't funny at all she wrapped her arms around his shoulders, looking around as she did so.  
"I said I was sorry, what can I do to make it up to you?" Asked Sarah, she looked up at him with her large blue eyes that made Daryl's knees feel weak.  
"Well I can think of a couple things" Daryl answered, the embarrassment had been forgotten as he placed his hands on her hip and lower back, pulling her body closer to his. With one more quick look over their shoulders they shared a tender kiss, short and sweet unfortunately as Sarah went to place her hand on the side of his face but caught the abrasion on his chin instead.  
"Ow" complained Daryl, he hadn't realised how hard he had hit his chin but he couldn't let his ego take any more hits so he brushed it off.  
"Oh love, that looks sore, are you OK?" Sarah asked concerningly. Reaching up and gently touched his skin surrounding the graze, he felt his skin tingle under her sensitive touch He made sure he didn't wince at all when she touched it, Daryl's father had raised him and his brother to be tough, Daryl was being taught to be a man when he was still a boy, whilst his friends were out playing in their expensive new bikes and having fun. "Playtime is for the weak, do you want to be weak boy?" Is what his father had always said.  
"M'fine" grumbled Daryl, he grabbed her hands and held them in his, "been banged up a whole lot worse than this in my time" said Daryl, not sure if he was trying to reassure Sarah or to impress her, probably both.  
He placed a kiss on her lips which quickly erupted to a full on and passionate make out, Daryl pushed Sarah up against the cold wall and just as they thought of finding somewhere secret to go they heard an obvious cough come from behind them. Instantly they both stopped, Daryl turned to see who had interrupted them to find Hershel standing there, leaning on a cane and dirt covered the knees of his trousers.   
"Sorry to disturb you two lovebirds but I'm afraid I need to steal you away for a moment Daryl. Also Carol needs you back at inventory Sarah" said Hershel.  
Daryl looked back at Sarah and rolled his eyes, gave her a quick peck and walked away with Hershel. As Sarah walked down the corridor she looked over her shoulder to watch Daryl walk away to find he was doing the same thing to her, exchanging a smile they both made their way. When Sarah got back to the store room Carol was sitting on the chest freezer where she gave her a knowing look.  
"If we get on with this we might be able to finish a little early, you're probably keen to go now" said Carol who winked at Sarah as she said it.  
With an embarrassed smile on her face Sarah replied, "You could say that."  
The rest of the day seemed to drag to Sarah, Carol had her doing busy work and then go back to recheck all her own work, Carol could see Sarah was getting annoyed but was partly enjoying torturing her the way she was. The second Carol said that she could go Sarah bolted out the door, was she not only eager to spend some alone time with Daryl but she was absolutely starving, she made a beeline for her room, after a long day in the hot inventory room she wanted to freshen up a bit before going to get some food. Before she went into her own room she peered into Daryl's and was disappointed to find he wasn't in there, and was probably out talking to Rick about something important.   
She freshened herself up as much as she could, with not much but some dry shampoo spray, deodorant and some wet wipes, she dabbed on a bit of lip gloss that was down to its last few uses and she made her way down to Hershel's room, his curtain was open and he was laying on his bed reading his bible. Once Sarah poked her head around the corner and Hershel invited her in and tapped next to him on the bed as he sat up indicating for her to take a seat.   
"Would to like a cup of tea dear?" Asked Hershel as he picked up a flask of hot water.  
Tea was always the first thing people offered her when they found out she was English and she had always lived up to the stereotype of her home country and obliged. Not wanting to disappoint she replied, "tea would be lovely, thanks" she took a seat next to him and watched as he prepared her tea, obviously there was no milk these days so she had to make do with the powered long life monstrosity, as Hershel passed her the mug she was happy to see a small pile of sugar cubes in a bowl by the flask, she dropped a couple into her drink and stirred it with a spork of all things. Sarah held the mug in her hands and let the comforting feeling of the hot mug on her skin wash over her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply, she wished she hadn't afterwards as her stomach twisted itself into knots of homesickness and a longing to be back in England where she hoped the virus hasn't spread to, she knew she was kidding herself but the thought of her parents, her friends and the rest of her family existing in a world like this broke her heart.  
"You look troubled my dear, is there anything I can help you with" Asked Hershel kindly, knocking Sarah out of her own world, she looked into Hershel's gentle face with tears in her eyes which she tried to wipe away without him noticing but he had.  
"It must be hard for you being here, wondering about back home?" Asked Hershel, was it so obvious that's what she was worrying about? She nodded her head as more tears breached the barriers and cascaded down her face, she took a large gulp from the tea which spread a warm feeling down her throat and into her stomach.  
"It's the not knowing that's killing me. It's always on my mind because I know I have no way of finding out." Sobbed Sarah, she took some deep breaths to compose herself and Hershel put an arm around her.  
Sarah sat and drank her tea before it had a chance to cool down, and she sat and chatted to Hershel about England, the county she had grown up in and she touched on her family but it was too painful to talk too long. Hershel told her about his family farm that his father, and his father before him and his father before him and so on had grown up in and ran, it was comforting talking about real things like this, really get to know someone and not just talk about how bored they were and how hungry everyone was.  
After about three cups of tea and a chat with Hershel Sarah was feeling infinitely better, once again he put his arm around her this time to say goodbye as Sarah excused herself and began carrying in down the catwalk, all of a sudden she stopped and made her way back to Hershel's room.  
"I completely forgot to ask you what I initially came here for. Have you seen Daryl at all since, well since earlier when you saw him?" Sarah blushed a little when she said this as a smile spread across Hershel's face.  
"He had to go make a quick run to town, nothing to worry about, just a routine search to keep an eye out for any activity nearby" Hershel reassured her, his words of reassurance did little to stop her stomach from doing flips, she could feel the colour drain slightly from her face and all of a sudden she wasn't very hungry anymore.  
"He's been gone a few hours, they'll be back soon. Glenn and Michonne are with him" already answering the question Sarah was going to ask.  
"I know he'll be fine, just surprised he didn't come tell me he was going." Said Sarah with a frown on her face.  
"Dear it's nothing personal, he wanted to come let you know but they had to go quickly so they'd be back in time before it got dark. Why don't we go get some dinner? They'll be back before you know it" replied Hershel.  
"Sure, sounds great." Answered Sarah, she helped him up and he reached for his crutches, he didn't always wear the prosthetic he had, so most of the time he made his way around on crutches. He hobbled out of his room and Sarah walked beside him as they made their way to get some food.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

The nearest town to the prison was about 15 miles away as the crow flies, surrounding the prison is is a dense woodland, in the wetter months parts became boggy and if you got stuck there that would be it, there was a tarmac road the wound through the woods and led up to the gate but they had roadblocks and precautions to stop people just showing up. Daryl, Glenn and Michonne took a car and parked a couple miles away from the town, hiding the tree in amongst some car wreckage to make it seem as if it was part of the accident, they key to hiding these days was to do it in plain sight.  
They collected their weapons from the car, Daryl draped his crossbow over his shoulder, Michonne grabbed her sword and Glenn took the rifle and strapped it over his shoulder, once they were all ready they headed off into the woods and made their way towards the town. As they walked they discussed what they would be looking for, Rick had sent them to search for any signs of life, they needed to know if anyone had been near by, who they were and what their intentions may be. They did this maybe once a month just to keep tabs on the local area, not long after they had moved into the prison they had removed all the surrounding signs indicating the presence of a prison in the hopes that it would stop people from finding them.  
They made their way to the town as quickly as they could, alternating between walking and jogging they made it to the town in little over 30 minutes, and to begin with they didn’t see anything of interest, they had set up certain items that if someone had made their way through they would have needed to move. Cars were put up to block the main roads, they had hidden small items such as cans of food, a bottle of water and even a knife, the first thing they did was check these and were shocked to see they were all gone. They continued on further into the town, it was made up of old buildings which led into an open courtyard with the town hall in the centre, the building was made of stone and was the biggest building in the small town. This time though something seemed off, they could all feel it, all of a sudden they all stopped walking and looked at each other, using hand signals Daryl indicated to the others to duck inside a shop on their left, they silently entered the shop and Daryl closed the blinds and shut the door behind them as Glenn and Michonne ventured further into the store to search for any signs of life or the undead.   
Glenn pushed back the curtain which separated the front of the store to the stock room at the back and Michonne entered, Glenn shined his flashlight into the small room and there was nothing to be seen, Michonne closed the curtains in this room too. It came to no surprise to them all, they had been in this town enough times to not expect to see many walkers anymore, better to be safe than sorry. Glenn and Michonne made their way back to the front of the store where Daryl was standing at the window and looking through a small break in the blinds.  
“All clear back here” said Michonne, “How’s it looking out there?”   
“Hmm, seems to be clear, I don’t like it though, doesn’t feel right y’now?” replied Daryl, turning around to face them, it was still light outside so he could see the outlines of their faces through the lights falling in from outside through the breaks in the blinds.  
“Yeah we know, how long you suggest we stay in here?” Asked Michonne, who had taken Daryl’s place at the window as a lookout as he made his way around the store to search for anything they could take back with them to make this venture worthwhile.  
“Don’t know, reckon we stay here for a bit to see what we see, if there’s nothing we’ll go through a couple more places, set up some signals again like last time and then make our way back.” replied Daryl.  
He and Glenn walked around and collected some bits, they hadn’t exactly come into the best store for gathering supplies but in their haste they hadn’t had the luxury to decide. the place looked a bit like a tourist hot spot which was ridiculous to Daryl as this was a tiny store in the heart of Atlanta, not really the place for tourists. Under the counter they found something useful though, a small handgun with some ammo, a bottle of water and even a box of energy bars, he took his bag off his back and began loading it with what he had found when something caught his eye on a shelf opposite him, he put his bag back on his back and walked over to the shelf where he grabbed the item and stashed it into his bag.   
“Hey, come look at this.” Whispered Michonne who had turned and was ushering them over with her hand.  
Two people had walked into view, it was two men who looked to be in their 30’s, they were dressed in dark denim and neither had a bag with them so they must either have a camp nearby or a car. They made their way across the courtyard and started up the steps of the town hall building, stopping half way up one of the men turned around and with his hands on his hips looked around the courtyard with a smile spread across his aging, stubble covered face. Daryl, Michonne and Glenn all stood by the windows and tried to keep watch as the men stood there talking, it was too far away to clearly be able to try and see what they were saying and they couldn’t risk opening the door in case they saw.   
The men weren’t there very long, soon they made their way down the steps and rounded the corner out of sight, just as Daryl was about to propose moving on and getting back to the prison they heard the roar of an engine approaching, two jeeps came into view and six men climbed out of them all of whom went to stand at the bottom of the stone steps. The previous men had reappeared and were standing a few steps up, he appeared to be addressing the men which made Daryl nervous, if there was another group, and by the looks of it a bigger group, nearby then they would eventually find them at the prison.  
They waited there as long as they could, it had been about an hour since they first took cover in the shop and unless they made a move soon it would be dark and in the dark it was dangerous. Daryl made his way to the back of the store and peered out of a window, the coast appeared to be clear but they had no way of knowing for sure, he whistled to signal to the others who followed him to the back, using hand gestures Daryl communicated to them that they would be going out the window and leaving to make their way back to the prison. Dusk was upon them now so they had the benefit of the cover, they would make the way to the trees as quickly as they could, using the shadows of the building as cover. Slowly Daryl opened the window, climbed out and ran to the other side of the road and ducked into an alleyway, once there he waved for Michonne to join him and then Glenn.   
Now they were outside they could hear the man’s speech, as long as he kept talking they were in the clear.  
“You’ve all been patient these last couple months, I know it’s been hard out on the road, we’ve lost a lot of people, but with this town it seems we might finally be home.” they heard the man confidently speaking to the other men. The thought of these strangers setting up their new camp so close to theirs was something they would need to address, for now they had to concentrate on getting back to the car so they could let Rick know what was happening. They left the town in the opposite direction that they came, just in case someone saw them leaving at least they would start looking in the wrong direction, they were lucky though as far as they knew no one had seen them leaving, they were all too busy hanging onto every word of their apparent leader. They trudged into the woods and made their way around in a large arc until they were back at their car, the journey had luckily been an easy one, they only came across about half a dozen walkers all together but the darkness had taken its hold and was now near enough pitchblack with only the moonlight guiding them. The sight of the car was definitely a welcome one, they all climbed in, Daryl in the driver seat, and he turned the key in the ignition, it spluttered and protested but after the third time of turning the key the engine roared into life, he threw it into reverse and moved away from the wreckage they had used to disguise their presence. He turned the steering wheel and put the car into drive, once he pushed the accelerator the car began wheel spinning for a few moments until it caught some traction and being moving forward, the area they had parked in was muddy and they were lucky to get out so easily, the last thing they would have needed was to be out there pushing the car out of the mud.   
Daryl only drove with the side lights on, the thick cover from the trees above blocked out any moonlight that may have been able to guide them and having the headlights on full would attract too much attention, they still hadn’t ruled out the possibility that there were more people back there and that they had people watching the woods. They drove in silence at first, they all understood the implications having those people there could cause, people weren’t exactly friendly anymore and a rival group moving into the area meant they would be searching for the same food, the same water, the same weapons and if they didn’t do something about it, and quickly, it could spell the end of their little haven inside the prison.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sarah sat at the picnic benches where Daryl had sat with Rick earlier that day, she had taken Hershel’s advice and taken his flask of hot water, tea and powdered milk to drink whilst she waited for Daryl and the others to return, this time of year the days were hot but the nights were freezing and if she insisted on sitting outside she would need something to keep her warm.  
Tara and Maggie had joined her but after one sip they both decided that Sarah could keep her tea and they would settle for coffee instead, Sarah was finally warming up to more people that lived here and started feeling as if they all wanted her there or at least enjoyed her company. Small talk was near enough impossible these days, you couldn’t ask people about their families, what they did for a living, where they went on holiday that year, and the typical English small talk starter of talking about the weather, as an English person Sarah had thrived on small talk which she would then develop to actual conversation, another stereotype she frequently lived up to.   
Instead they talked about the people they were living with, they told Sarah how they had all found each other and how they had gone from strangers to family, Sarah knew what it was like, it had been the exact same with her own group and the thought sent her stomach into doing flips, this group seemed strong and they knew what they were doing, her old group didn’t and that’s why they’re all dead now.   
Conversation had turned to how the prison looked so miserable, the grey concrete walls and rank cream lino tiles didn’t do much to improve morale around here, they had spoken before about sprucing the place up a bit but that was when they hadn’t been here very long, they weren’t settled nor invested enough in the place to want to improve it much. Maggie and Tara both agreed that it was a great idea and encouraged Sarah to talk to Rick about it as some point.  
“There’s a hardware store about 20 miles out, they’d have all things like paint, furniture, pictures and everything like that, and I doubt many people have decided to take that stuff so it’s probably all still there.” said Tara encouragingly who was happy to see Sarah was getting involved in things. Since Sarah was brought here she had tried to make conversation with her but had never gotten much in return, she didn’t take it personally but there’s only so many times you can try with a person before it gets annoying.  
“You know who’s super into things like interior decorating?” asked Tara, trying to suppress a smirk as she said it.  
“No, who?” replied Sarah, curious as to why Tara was trying not to smile so hard.  
“Daryl. You know, Dixon.” she said, staring directly at Sarah and smiling broadly, “Yeah, he’s super into that sort of stuff, maybe you should talk to him about it, you’ve been talking quite a bit recently haven’t you?”   
Sarah seized the opportunity and replied, “Oh yeah, I definitely imagine Daryl as the type to enjoy a good session of colour coding paint with furniture and finding just that perfect duvet cover to match the pillows.” the sentence was completely dripping with sarcasm, Sarah had gotten herself in trouble with the amount of sarcasm she uses before, not all American’s get it and it pisses people off but she couldn’t help it.  
Maggie nudged Tara and told her to quit teasing, Sarah appreciated Maggie’s help but part of her wanted to talk about Daryl and whatever their relationship is or might be, just right now thinking about him made her nervous, knowing he was out somewhere on the other side of that fence and that there was nothing she could do to get him back sooner.  
“Ok fine, I’m sorry” said Tara, “But what’s going on with you two? And don’t lie, I saw him coming out of your room this morning and I overheard him and Hershel talking about you.”  
Sarah didn’t know what to say, Maggie had tapped Tara on the arm and told her again to leave it, reassuring Sarah that she didn’t have to talk about it if she didn’t want to.   
“Thank you Maggie” said Sarah, smiling at Maggie but then turned to Tara, “wait did you say you heard Daryl talking to Hershel about me? What did he say?” Sarah tried to ask with an air of general interest but it came out sounding like she was a teenager desperately trying to find out if her crush liked her back or not.  
“Dude, you should just talk to him when he gets back, I don’t wanna get in the middle of it all.” replied Tara, who held her hands up, “Just try not to get too much into your own head about it, he’ll be back soon, it’s not my place to say.”  
“Hmm, now I know you’re right, but that doesn’t mean I have to agree.” Sarah put her hands in her face and groaned, she then rested her chin on her palm and said to Maggie, “How do you do it?”  
“Do what?” asked Maggie, who looked confused at Sarah’s question.  
“Wait here whilst Glenn is out there? Me and Daryl aren’t even really a couple and I’m going crazy, you and Glenn are married and you seem so calm!” exclaimed Sarah who then rested her head on the table and gently tapped her forehead on the wood.  
Maggie took Sarah’s hands in hers and made her lift her head off the bench, Sarah looked at Maggie who was smiling at her caringly.  
“You really want to know the answer? Here it is. I’m not calm at all, I hate when Glenn goes out there, I go sometimes but since Rick put me on fence duty I just don’t have the time to go with him. The secret is to keep yourself busy, whether it’s working or just hanging out with a couple friends and talking.”  
“Thanks Maggie” mumbled Sarah, she felt a bit better but still all she could think about was Daryl.  
The three women sat there until the sun had gone down talking about revamping the look of the prison, how they would decorate their rooms, they even decided to completely redecorate the rec room, the place smelt and was falling apart and it was in desperate need for some TLC. All of the hot water was gone so it wasn’t long until a shiver was creeping up around them, Sarah sat hugging her elbows and watched the vapour escape her mouth when she breathed,Tara was the first to speak up about heading inside and Maggie agreed with her. Sarah knew she should go back inside but she didn’t want to, she wanted to be out here to see the headlights come in but the pain radiating from her freezing feet forced her to head back inside with the others. Maggie went off to cell block A where her and Glenn lived and Sarah and Tara went back to cell block B, Tara lived upstairs 5 rooms down from Sarah, and they said their goodbyes and Sarah carried on down towards her room. She pulled open her door and into her room where she climbed into bed, still fully clothed and attempted to fall asleep, eventually she fell asleep a few hours later.

They were just over halfway back to the prison when the car began sputtering and protesting, slowly the car refused to go any further and came to a dead stop along the dark forest road.  
"FUCK" yelled Daryl as he attempted turning the key to no avail, he turned the key four times but it was no use. He thumped the dashboard hard, muttering profanities at the infernal machine, they were fucked now, it was only supposed to be a quick run so they had hardly any food or water and little ammo.  
Daryl shoved open the door and walked around to the front of the car where he pulled the bonnet up exposing the old engine. He placed a flashlight in his mouth and began inspecting the damage, Michonne and Glenn had taken their positions either end of the car and watched like hawks for any signs of moment, they still couldn't rule out the positivity they were followed.  
After 10 minutes and three walkers Daryl declared it was no use, "ain't no way I'm gonna be able to fix this heap of shit out her now, can't see a fucking thing I'm doing."  
"Then we go on foot, it can't be much further away by now, if we cover ourselves with their blood and guts we can blend in" proposed Michonne, it was a tried and tested technique she had frequently used herself before she found the group.  
"We've probably got about 5 miles to go, if we cut through the woods probably only 2 or 3, we'll just have to be careful" suggested Glenn, he'd always hated the idea of smothering walker guts over himself, the smell made him wretch still.  
"Sounds like a plan" demanded Daryl, he opened the driver door and pulled a lever, a small clunk could be heard and he made his way to the boot of the car where he grabbed three sheets and ripped holes in for their heads. He passed one to each Michonne and Glenn and made short work of ripping open the nearest walker with his hunting knife and slathering the rotten flesh and blood over it until it was well covered, he put his crossbow over his shoulder and then draped the vile sheet over him. Glenn and Michonne followed suit and soon they were all walkered up and ready to go. 

At a normal pace it wouldn't have taken them long to get back to the prison on foot but they took extra caution, a small amount of moonlight spilled through the trees so it was difficult to see where they were going until their eyes adjusted to the darkness. It wasn't long until their disguises were put to the test, they could hear the groans and shuffling feet of the undead up ahead, they subtly adjusted their position and managed to walk past them under the radar, so far so good they thought to themselves.  
As they approached the prison individual walkers were few and far between, they began clustering up and soon the fences were almost visible, the place had an eery look bathed in the white moonlight. Getting here was half the battle, now they needed to try and signal to Carol and Sasha who were on watch, waiting for their return but expecting a car, all without alerting the horde all around them.  
Speaking in whispers to keep under the radar they devised a plan of using the small torch to shine on and off at the gate where they could see the silhouette of either Sasha or Carol sitting with a gun rested on her lap keeping keeping a vigilant watch on the road whilst the other watched the surrounding woods, Michonne and Glenn flanked around Daryl as he prepared to shine the torch, they had moved to a place where the density of walkers was lower and he began flashing the light in the direction of the gates. He switched it on and off, on and off and did this six times and they stopped and watched for a return signal but nothing came. He did it again another six times and still there was nothing, they weren't going to see the weak beam of light this far back and the batteries were running dangerously low.  
They decided to regroup and look for another way of signalling their presence which wouldn't end with them being dinner. Using hand gestures Daryl signed to the others to stand either side of him and cover him in case what he was about to do got the attention of anything. As Glenn and Michonne took their positions he removed his sheet and placed it in front of him in case he had to slip it back on quickly. He swung the crossbow off his shoulder and loaded a bolt onto it and pointed it towards the gate where were a small group was gathering, probably about half a dozen, he got a walker in his sights and pulled the trigger on his crossbow. The bolt hurtled through the air and embedded into the rotting skull of the disfigured monster causing it to fall against the fence, the falling body made an audible thud as it hit the deck which roused the attention of Carol who had been sat in the old garden chair not far from the front entrance, Sasha had heard it too,she was up in the guard tower sporting a heavy semi automatic rifle with a scope as big as her arm attached. Sasha peered through the scope and searched along the tree line to find the culprit, she swept along until something caught her eye, there were three figures hugging the tree lime and all of a sudden she saw the slight light of a torch coming from between the trees. At first she thought it might have been someone spying on them when she realised the light was flashing on and off repeatedly and she realised it must have been the others.  
She yanked open the door of the watch tower and powered down the stairs, when she reached Carol she whispered to her, "It's Daryl, Glenn and Michonne. It has to be, get your torch and flash it over and over when I give the signal, I'm gonna try distracting the walkers around the fence so they get a clear shot through"   
Sasha was gone before Carol had a chance to question her and focused her eyes to hunt them out when she saw the flashing lights. She grabbed her own torch and waited for Sasha to give the signal, Sasha had unlocked one of the gates that lead down a walkway so just one chain link fence separated her from the small horde pushing up against it, she took out her knife and ran it across the metal which emitted a loud clinking noise into the darkness. The noise attracted the attention of the walkers by the main fence but also riled up the cluster that had already formed. Once enough of them had moved away from the fence Sasha pursed her lips and a loud high pitched whistle emitted from them, that was the signal Carol was waiting for and she copied the light flashing.  
"Ok let's go" whispered Daryl who had placed the sheet back over his shoulders they emerged from the tree lines and made a beeline for the gate at a quick jog, the sound of their movement made them visible to the nearer walkers who turned away from the noise Sasha was making and began shuffling towards them.  
Michonne unsheathed her sword and quickly severed the heads of three in one elegant swoop, the moonlight reflected off the blade and the sound of three fallen walkers attracted further attention, using his hunting knife Daryl moved ahead and sunk his knife in the skulls of two of them. The trio made sure they kept themselves in formation, Daryl at the front moving forwards and Glenn and Michonne forming a triangle shape behind him making sure they keep a level pace and didn't let any gaps emerge.  
Soon they were about 20 steps away from the front gate, they had fashioned spikes out of wood which they had tied together with a small platform behind it so they could stand freely which offered some cover, once they reached the wooden barrier Daryl climbed over and stood on the platform and using his crossbow took down a further three walkers who were making their way over to them whilst Glenn and Michonne climbed over.  
Thinking they had made it Daryl raced over to the gate which Carol had begun opening when he heard yells coming from behind him, Glenn's sheet had become caught and tangled and he was having trouble freeing himself from it. Daryl looked back and saw what was unfolding, in his haste to try and get free Glenn hadn't seen the half dozen walkers making their way straight for him and Michonne was distracted with clearing walkers on the other side of Glenn. Daryl ran towards the walkers, he kicked one in the stomach and it stumbled backwards into another 2, it's guts ruptured and you could see intestines trailing onto the floor as it clumsily climbed back onto it's feet, as Daryl tackled the walkers Carol had come out of the gate and closed it behind her, she took out her knife and put her fingers through the knuckle duster hilt and grabbed at the sheet that was keeping Glenn hostage and began slicing away at it in order to free him. In the distance Sasha could be heard yelling, trying to attract the attention of the walkers back towards her but the others were making too much of a commotion, when Carol managed to cut the sheet off Glenn they both fell forwards into a heap, Carol called out in pain and as she tried to climb back to her feet a searing pain jolted down her right hip and she collapsed again. Daryl turned at the sound of his injured friend and helped her back to her feet where he supported her to walk back inside, Glenn and Michonne followed suit and Sasha met them at the gate entrance, the second they were back inside they closed the gate with all their strength and locked it shut, Glenn then pulled across the sheet they had attached to a metal frame as to hinder the walkers from being able to see them.   
"Well that was close" retorted Daryl who was breathing deeply and out of breath like the others, still supporting Carol with her arm around his shoulders and one had around her waist they began making their way back up to the prison.  
"Sasha, go up ahead and get Rick whilst I take Carol to the infirmary to get checked over, you too Glenn, looks like Carol got you with her knife when she was trying to cut it off you. We need to tell Rick what we saw now because all I can think right now is how much I want to climb into my damn bed." Ordered Daryl.  
Carol attempted to protest but Daryl didn't listen, she hit her hip damn hard on the floor and better safe than sorry, Glenn hadn't even noticed he'd been cut but now he had the pain was intense, Michonne had given him a clean piece of fabric which he was using the stop it from bleeding but he was probably going to need stitches.   
Rick was already making his way out by the time Daryl and the others reached the main entrance a look of relief and questioning on his face.  
"Michonne can you take Carol and Glenn to the infirmary and get Hershel on your way so he can look at Glenn's arm before it gets infected." Asked Rick.  
Michonne took over from Daryl and helped Carol inside with Glenn walking behind them. Once they were inside Rick turned to Daryl and moved his head in a follow me gesture, they went inside through a different door and found their way to an old office room, the men sat either side of the desk and Rick took out his notebook, looked at Daryl and said, "tell me everything. What happened?"  
Daryl told a detailed account of everything that had happened since they left the prison earlier that day, he told Rick about they disturbed items they left as markers, how they had taken cover in a shop and watched as two men walked into the courtyard and how he had a group of men with him whom he had addressed whilst standing on the steps. When he mentioned what they had overheard and that it sounded like they were planning on moving in an expression of dread flashed across Rick's face which was instantly replaced with concentration again, once Daryl was done explaining how they had left the town in the opposite direction of the prison and looped round Rick seemed relieved, he trusted Daryl and knew the decisions he made were for the good of the group at all times.  
"Did you manage to get the car covered?" Asked Rick who was going back over the notes he had made to make sure everything he had was right.  
"Managed to get it off the road but the thing is fucked, I'll go back out when it's light and have have a look and see if I can salvage anything" said Daryl between yawns, he rubbed his oil stained hands on his shirt and added, "Look Rick I know you want to make sure you have all the details but I'm beat, I need to have a shower to get the walker stink off me and I'm covered in oil, can we pick this up again in the morning?"  
"Sure buddy, I'll see you at breakfast" said Rick as he closed his notebook and followed Daryl out the room. They walked back towards the cell blocks and parted ways, Daryl headed upstairs to his room to take off his boots and grab a towel and some shower gel once he was leaving his room he noticed a light coming from Sarah's room and decided to check in on her, they had made plans to see each other that evening but that had gone out the window. When he poked his head in the room he saw Sarah sitting up against the head of her bed, wearing a vest and a pair of shorts and reading a book by candle light, all he could think was how beautiful she looked and he cleared his throat to indicate his presence.  
The sound made Sarah jump, she had got a bit of sleep but kept waking up so decided to read until she heard Daryl get back, she looked up and saw a filthy Daryl standing in her doorway and she felt her heart flutter at the sight of him. The warm feeling of relief shot through her body and and she threw her book to the side and crossed the room in two steps, she flung her arms around him and planted a tender kiss on his lips which he gladly reciprocated.   
"I was so worried" gushed Sarah through kisses, "what happened? What took you so long? Hershel told me it was just a quick run to the next town over and that was hours ago."   
Daryl took her hands and held them in his, "Can I tell you about it tomorrow? I've just been through it all with Rick and all I want to do is have a shower and go to bed." Replied Daryl, he was exhausted before but seeing Sarah had woken him up a lot.  
"Yeah that's fine, you must be tired." Said Sarah as she quickly scanned his body for any injuries.  
A smirk spread across Daryl's face, "Well I'm much more awake now" purred Daryl as he moved closer to her and gently kissed her neck and collarbone, once he realised he could see her nipples poking through her thin top his mind began going at a million miles per hour.  
"I'm gonna go have a shower ... care to join me?" Asked Daryl.  
"Now there's an offer I can't pass up" replied Sarah who grabbed her own towel and blew out the candles she had placed around. The two then quickly made their way down to the showers, hand in hand, the events of the evening long forgotten.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

Once they reached the showers they quickly checked all the cubicles to make sure they were alone, once they were sure Daryl turned on the water to give it a chance to warm up, not that it ever really got that hot. He then turned to Sarah and kissed her deeply, he ran his hands over her hips and arse and squeezed as he did so. Sarah ran her fingers through his messy hair and tugged on it a small moan escaped from between his lips as he wrapped his fingers around the bottom of her top and pulled it off over her head which he threw to the floor, he leaned down and took one of her nipples between his teeth and alternated between tugging on it with his teeth and caressing it with his tongue. Just the sight of Sarah’s naked body was enough to make Daryl hard, his erection was pushing against the zip of his jeans and Sarah teasingly put her hand down the front of his trousers and began rubbing his cock, unable to hold out much longer Daryl yanked his shirt off throwing that to the ground as well.   
The added risk of someone walking in on them as time was approaching dawn only added to the excitement, the feeling of the water cascading down on them as they were entwined in each other's arms sent a shiver down Sarah’s spine, and the water ran brown with dirt and mud as it washed off Daryl’s skin. Sarah unzipped his jeans and tugged on them until the soaking jeans budged from his hips and he kicked them out of the way, he pulled off Sarah’s shorts with ease and threw them onto the pile of soaking clothes and soon after came their underwear. Daryl’s hands ran over her body and down to between her legs where he rubbed her clitoris whilst entering her with two fingers, he then moved down to continue sucking on her nipples until her breathing got heavier and heavier and her body shook with pleasure. Soon the running water wasn’t the only lubricant easing his access and Sarah was begging him to stop as she couldn’t take it much longer, he removed his fingers and put one of them in her mouth so she could have a taste.  
Sarah got down on her knees and took his penis in her mouth, she ran her tongue along the length of his erection and pushed him deeper into her mouth, her lips were tight around him and she ran her tongue along as she moved up and down, every now and again removing him from her mouth and using her tongue around the tip. Daryl held onto the wall to stable himself as she rapidly picked up the pace, trying to hold out as long as possible but it was no use, he couldn’t stop himself when it came to her and soon he had came in her mouth which she swallowed with greed. Sarah climbed up off her knees and kissed Daryl deeply, her tongue entwined with his, returning the favour of showing him how he tasted, soon Daryl was ready to go another round, he guided Sarah to the wall and grabbed her hips and pulled them close. He put his hands on her waist and effortlessly lifted her up where she wrapped her hips around his waist, he rested her back against the cold tiles which sent shivers over her body and her nipples stood to attention, to get her ready Daryl kissed and bit her neck and moved down to her breasts where he teased her nipples and sucked until it left a love bite. He repositioned her so he could enter her with greater ease and guided his erection between her legs and started to gyrate his hips, the first few thrusts were gentle as he made sure she was ready for him, her arms were wrapped around his shoulders and their faces close together, Daryl could feel her rapid breath on his neck and could hear her plead for him to go faster between moans, he was enjoying teasing her but he couldn’t hold out much longer and was soon thrusting into her hard and fast. Sarah’s nails dug into his back and left marks as she dragged her nails across his back, she bit her lip hard to stop from shouting out but it wasn’t long before Daryl had found his rhythm, pushing himself deeper into her with each thrust. Sarah moved her hands over to Daryl’s biceps which were glistening with a mixture of sweat and water from the shower and held tightly onto them as she climaxed, her orgasm rocketed around her body and she called out Daryl’s name as she came, Daryl sped up his thrusts until he followed suit and came.   
Both of their bodies were trembling with pleasure as Daryl slowly lowered Sarah so her feet touched the floor, they stood with the water flowing over them for a moment, Daryl leant against Sarah with his forehead resting on her shoulder whilst Sarah slowly ran her fingers up and down his spine and both out of breath.  
“Maybe we should actually take a shower now” panted Sarah.  
Daryl lifted his head and laughed, he looked down at Sarah and replied, “Oh yeah, I knew we came down here to do something other than have sex but for the life of me I couldn’t remember.” He ran his finger through his hair and when he looked at his hands after they were covered in dirt and god knows what else. Sarah grabbed a bottle of shampoo and squirted some into her hands, she reached up and began massaging it into his hair until it created a lather, whilst she was doing that it took everything Daryl had to not run his hands over her body, the action of massaging in the shampoo was making her sway. She then grabbed a bar of soap and held it under the running water which was now cold and began rubbing it over his chest, neck and stomach, she ordered him to turn around to which Daryl suddenly became nervous, instead he grabbed the bar of soap from her and began running it over her instead. His calloused hands ran over her breasts where he stopped to fondle her nipples before moving onto her stomach and the rest of her body. Once they were both covered in soap they moved into the shower, the cold water hitting their bodies like a thousand knives, they quickly washed off the soap and Daryl washed the shampoo out of his hair.   
Just as they had finished washing themselves they exited the shower cubicle and grabbed their towels to dry themselves off, their clothes had gotten soaking wet so they couldn’t get redressed, instead wrapped themselves in their towels and grabbed their wet clothes, Daryl had his towel wrapped around his hips but still grabbed his leather vest and threw it on, he then grabbed Sarah’s hand and they walked back to their rooms.   
“So when are you going to tell me what happened and why it took you so long to get back?” enquired Sarah.  
Daryl took a deep breath and replied abruptly, “You don’t need to worry about it, we just got held up is all, happens all the time. We saw some people and had to wait it out, can’t trust no-one these days.”   
Sarah looked at Daryl as they walked with a concerned look on her face, and grumbled, “Well I wouldn’t say you can’t trust anyone, you took me in when I was a stranger. What made me the exception?”   
“I don’t mean it like that, impressions are a lot these days and I got the impression you was one of the good ones- that’s all, y’know like a gut instinct.” responded Daryl.  
Sarah didn’t know why she didn’t like what he said, he had a very valid point and Sarah herself knew exactly what he was talking about having encountered her own fair share of shitty people. They returned back to the rooms in a comfortable silence, Sarah went into her own room and slipped on some dry clothes and hung up the wet ones over the end of the bed where there was a metal railing. By the time she did this Daryl was standing in her doorway wearing a pair of clean boxers and a black shirt just watching Sarah move around the room, when she noticed he was standing there she indicated with her hand for him to come in and he closed the curtain behind him. Sarah moved back the duvet cover and they both climbed into her small single bed, Daryl wrapped his arms around her as they laid there, Daryl looked up to the metal mesh that held the bunk above them in place and saw that Sarah had put some of her pictures up there, smiling down at him was Sarah’s past, her friends and family from England and people she met along her travels. One picture stood out to Daryl, it was of Sarah and two guys either side of her, all holding plane tickets and smiling broadly, in the background was an overcast sky and a row of jumbo jets. It dawned on Daryl that they were the two friends she had come to America with and he felt his stomach twist into knots, he looked down at Sarah who was already fast asleep with her head resting on his chest and gently kissed the crown of her head, soon falling asleep himself.

The next few weeks went along smoothly, they had stockpiled more than enough food for the winter and well into Spring meaning that those who had been tasked with farming were now spread about and given other jobs. Hershel was attending to people’s medical ailments full time now and was even training Andrea and Carol everything he knew, you could never have too much medical knowledge these days. With Carol relocated to the infirmary Sarah had been promoted to being in charge of the inventory and much to Sarah’s pleasure she was no longer the new person around the prison, whilst out on a run they had come across a family of 5 hiding in a barn, there was a woman and her husband and their three children and one of the children was seriously ill, sadly he died before Hershel was able to help him and understandably the family were distraught so Rick offered them safe haven at the prison which they had graciously accepted, they knew that they wouldn’t last the winter out there alone.   
The woman, whose name was Melissa had been given the job in the inventory with Sarah and her husband Corey was put to work in construction, he had been an architect before everything changed so his input was a much needed bonus. Sarah and Daryl’s relationship was blooming and they spent every night together alternating between rooms, there had been no official announcement but everybody in the prison knew they were together now and the two of them couldn’t have been happier. One day Sarah was in the inventory room with Melissa when Daryl had come in for the list of items to get on the run today, Daryl had kissed Sarah goodbye and Melissa had made a comment on how they were a cute couple, the comment took Sarah a bit by surprise as it was the first time she had heard someone refer to them as a couple. It made her feel butterflies in her stomach which wouldn’t go all day, it was a bit of a slow day as they had managed to get most of the work done the previous day, Sarah was sitting on a stool sipping a bottle of water when she had come over feeling light headed and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Melissa had noticed the change in Sarah’s demeanor and her mothering instinct took over as she told Sarah to sit on the ground and sip some more water whilst she went and called for someone.  
Soon Carol came bursting through the door carrying a small first aid kit, she kneeled down next to Sarah and was glad Melissa came to get her when she did, Sarah’s skin was ice cold to the touch but sweat was pouring down her face, Carol opened the first aid box and removed a thermometer which she put in Sarah’s mouth underneath her tongue, she was running a slight fever but not enough to explain the symptoms Sarah was showing, Carol decided to take Sarah down to the infirmary where she could get some fluids and rest. Melissa went and got a wheelchair as when Carol tried to lift Sarah off the ground and walk her there, Sarah’s knees gave way and she fell to the floor with a solid thud.   
Carol wheeled Sarah into the infirmary and over to a bed in the corner, Hershel was sitting there awaiting their arrival instructing Andrea on what instruments they would need to check Sarah over. Andrea and Carol helped Sarah get onto the bed and Sarah rested her head on the pillow and stared up at the white tiles illuminated by the fluorescent lights.  
“Melissa said she seemed fine and then all of a sudden went pale and light headed, she’s got a slight fever but nothing to explain such a rapid decline. She’s had no sudden head injuries, her eyes are reacting fine to light, she’s a little bit dehydrated, was drinking water but that inventory room gets insanely hot even when it’s cold outside” explained Carol to Hershel who had strapped a blood pressure cuff around Sarah’s left arm and was expanding it by squeezing air into it.  
“Hmm, it’s a little low, that would explain why she felt faint and is so pale” Hershel turned to Sarah and asked, “Sarah, have you been eating? What did you have for breakfast this morning?”  
Sarah was a bit delirious at this point and her vision was going blurry, she mumbled in reply, “I had cornflakes this morning but I haven’t had any lunch, felt a bit sick.” As soon as she said it she leaned to the side and vomited onto the floor, Andrea thrust a bucket under her chin and soon Sarah had nothing left to throw up and was just gagging over a bowl of sick.  
“Carol we need to put in an IV line, she’s going to need fluids and anything she eats or drinks right now is going to get vomited straight back up. Can you go over to the cupboard and get some gloves, an IV catheter, the IV bag, some gauze and some wipes please?” instructed Hershel.  
She came back over and placed the items on the table next to Hershel who had positioned himself next to Sarah, Carol and Andrea were standing over his shoulder taking in everything Hershel was doing. He hung the IV bag on a stand that was on wheels with five hooks around it and prepared the IV bag by attaching the tubing and letting the tube fill with the saline solution, he then grabbed the wipes and wiped down Sarah’s inner arm on her right arm and wrapped a strap around her arm just above her elbow, he showed the women how to find a vein by tapping her arm until a vein became visible. He grabbed a catheter and carefully pierced the skin which inserted into the vein on the first go, once in place he removed the needle and taped it onto Sarah’s arm to keep it in place and the saline solution began flowing into her vein.  
“That’s all we can do for now, we’ll check on her in a couple hours and reassess, does anyone know if Daryl is back yet? He’s gonna want to know she’s here.” concluded Hershel.  
“I don’t think they’re back yet, they had to go a bit further out than normal but I’ll let whoever’s on watch know that when they get back to send him here straight away.” responded Andrea, “And I’ll let Rick know so he’s in the loop.”   
Andrea got up and headed out of the infirmary and went to find Rick and let him know what was going on, in the meantime Carol tidied up the supplies Hershel had used and updated their supplies list that was clipped onto a clipboard and hung on the front of the cupboard. Hershel stayed sitting with Sarah, and tried to ask her a few more questions to determine if anything else could have caused this reaction but it wasn’t long before Sarah was out cold, satisfied she hadn’t hit her head meaning she didn’t have a concussion Hershel left her to sleep it off and help Carol with tidying up. 

After Andrea had let Rick know what had happened with Sarah he decided to go assist Carl and Sasha who were on watch so he could let Daryl know what was going on, Rick and Carl sat on the old chairs they had positioned down there and watched the group of people they had daily down at the fences stabbing the walkers in the head through the fence. With the weather getting colder the walkers were moving slower and there weren’t as many of them at the fences anymore, pretty soon they won’t need to be down there every day which will free up a lot of time. Rick sat and scanned through his notebook full of his plans for the week when they heard Sasha whistle from up in the guard tower, Rick and Carl looked up and sure enough a car could be seen just in the distance emerging from the tree line at a high speed, Carl ran forwards and grabbed the pulley system they had installed and began pulling on it which opened the front gate just as they pulled up out front. There were a few walkers near the gate which Sasha took out with her rifle from the guard tower, once inside and the gate was closed Rick rushed over to the car to get Daryl and send him to the infirmary but then he saw an extra person with them in the back seat and Daryl rolled down the window of the drivers seat.  
“Who’s that?” Rick asked suspiciously  
“Don’t know his name, we found him out on the road and he’s real fucked up Rick, couldn’t just leave him out there to get eaten alive.” declared Daryl.   
“Alright, take him to the infirmary, don’t panic but Sarah’s up there as well, she collapsed earlier, Hershel’s taking good care of her” rushed Rick.  
The colour drained from Daryl’s face and he quickly put the car into gear and stamped on the accelerator until they were up at the next gate which opened out into the courtyard which Carl opened for them as he had run up to it after getting the first gate shut. From a distance Rick could see Daryl jump out the car and drag the limp body of the young man out of the back and carried him inside down towards the infirmary. 

Daryl kicked open the door of the infirmary which made Carol, Andrea and Hershel all jump, when they saw Daryl was carrying an unconscious person they instructed him to lay him on the bed which was next to Sarah’s, as soon as he was on the bed Daryl rushed over to Sarah’s bedside and grabbed her hand.   
“Is she ok? What happened to her?” exclaimed Daryl, “Hershel! What happened?”  
“She’s fine Daryl, her blood pressure was low, she hadn’t eaten enough and was dehydrated. We’ve put her on a saline solution to rehydrate her and she’s been resting for the last couple of hours. She’s going to be fine” insisted Hershel, “But Daryl, right now I need to pay my attention to this young man, where did you find him?”  
“He was hiding out in an old barn about 30 miles out, thought he was dead until he started coughing, we gave him some water and managed to get a couple words out of him then he passed out, we checked him for bite marks and he’s clear, doesn’t look like he’s eaten in awhile, can see all his ribs and everything.” responded Daryl who hadn’t moved from Sarah’s side and was holding Sarah’s hand tightly.  
With the limited information Hershel had he began giving out orders to Carol and Andrea, he was put on an IV line like Sarah except his hand antibiotics in it, and they checked his body for existing injuries, he had a nasty cut on his abdomen which Hershel stitched up and cleaned the area. Andrea had grabbed a sponge and a bucket of warm soapy water and gave the young man a sponge bath, he was caked in dried mud, blood and who knows what else and by the time she was finished he already looked a whole new person. His pale skin hung onto his body, he had dark bags under his eyes and was covered in cuts and bruises, the contrast between his dark hair and his skin made him look like a ghost. He had a think ginger beard and a number of tattoos on his arms and legs. To clean him up and give him the medical attention he needed it had taken a good couple hours, Daryl had been sat by Sarah’s side the entire time and when Hershel suggested Daryl go get himself something to eat he refused to budge. It reached late evening by the time Sarah woke up, Daryl was leaning back in a chair and was asleep but when Sarah began fidgeting he was wide awake and a feeling of relief spread around his body when he saw her eyes flick open and a smile spread across her lips.  
“Hey babe, how’s it going? Have a good run today?” asked Sarah groggily, a bit confused as to why she was laying in the infirmary.  
“You’re seriously asking me about that right now? What happened to you? You were fine when I saw you earlier on.” sighed Daryl.  
“I didn’t have any lunch and that room gets so hot, I just got light headed and a bit dehydrated is all” yawned Sarah. She looked over at the body lying in the bed next to her and looked back at Daryl, “Who's that?” She asked, gently pushing herself up further on the bed so she was in more of an upright position and could get a better view of her new neighbour.  
“Just some guy we found when we were out today, he’s in a pretty bad shape but Hershel’s cleaned him up, looks like he might be ok. Stop trying to change the subject though, how are you feeling now?” Daryl went on, “You need to make sure you’re eating as well babe, we have plenty of food here now.”  
Sarah wasn’t listening to his lecture though, something about the man had caught her attention, he was laying flat on his back and his left arm had spilled over the side and was hanging off the side of the bed slightly and she could see a tattoo on his wrist and it looked familiar, she just couldn’t put her finger on it.   
“Sarah are you even listening to me?” snapped Daryl, Sarah looked back at Daryl and apologised.  
“I’m sorry my love, it’s just … I don’t know, I swear I’ve seen that tattoo be…” Sarah trailed off and suddenly realised where she had seen it before.  
“Oh my god” she whispered before throwing the covers off her and she climbed out of bed, the iv line was still attached so she wheeled it over to the guests bed and grabbed his arm to inspect the tattoo.  
“Sarah what the fuck are you doing!?” scolded Daryl, you can’t just jump out of bed, you need to rest.   
By the time Daryl rounded the bed and got to Sarah’s side she had one hand clamped over her mouth and tears falling down her cheeks, her breathing was laboured and she felt like she had a huge lump stuck in her throat. She just couldn’t believe that what she was seeing was true, Daryl had his arm draped around her and was trying to encourage her to go back to bed when she pushed him off her. She stared at the unconscious man's face and touched it gingerly with the tips of her fingers. In a swift motion she was down at his feet and looking at his other tattoos and was soon becoming hysterical at the sight of the tattoo that spread from his ankle up to his knee, Daryl was completely confused by this point and once again tried to encourage Sarah to lie back down but once again she refused. Instead she let him lead her to the chair positioned next to the bed, once sat down Daryl kneeled in front of her and held her face in his hands, repeatedly saying her name to get her attention back onto him so he could find out what was wrong.  
Through sniffs Sarah managed to muster the words, “I know who he is” tears spilled out of her eyes and down her face once more and she continued, “That’s Rob. One of my friends from England.”


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Daryl couldn’t believe what he was hearing, the little information he had about this guy was that he was in the barn they were hiding in when the horde came through and as far as Sarah was aware, he had died with everyone else. She didn’t talk about that night, the only time she had spoken about it was when he and Rick were interviewing her on her first night here, even those nights they had stayed up and just talked she had never wanted to talk about what happened. She sat in the chair next to his bed for hours and refused to move until he woke up, Daryl pulled up a chair next to her and kept her company until she fell asleep in the early hours and he managed to encourage her to go back to her own bed, she would be here when he woke up but she needed to rest.  
Once Daryl was convinced that she was fast asleep he silently crept out of the room and went to look for Rick to update him what he had found out, the sun was just starting to peek its head over the horizon so Daryl knew he would find Rick doing his usual early morning jog around the fence perimeter to check for any weaknesses that had occurred overnight. As expected when Daryl opened the heavy metal door to go outside Rick could be seen jogging towards him, Daryl stood there and shielded his eyes from the sun with his hand as Rick approached. When Rick saw Daryl standing there he felt his stomach drop and was expecting some bad news, once he was about 10 feet away he slowed to a walk and breathing heavily from his run he said to Daryl.  
"Why do I feel like you're about to tell me some bad news?" He took a swig from his water bottle and wiped his sweaty brow with a towel he had left on one of the benches.   
"That guy we brought in yesterday, he was from Sarah's old group. She thought she saw him go down before she got out. She’s got a whole bunch of pictures of them together, I’ve seen them myself" Explained Daryl.  
Rick raised his eyebrows in surprise, he took a moment to consider what Daryl had said and eventually replied, "So why do you sound as if that's the worst news we've ever had? Surely this is a good thing?"   
Daryl shifted his weight between his feet and shoved his hands into his pockets, he could feel Rick's stare and all of a sudden wished he didn't say anything.  
"I dunno, she's got her hopes up that he's gonna wake up soon and it'll be like having him back... as far as we know he's been out there, probably alone for, well I don't know how long, however long Sarah's been here, so like two months maybe more. Being out there alone for that long, must fuck you up at least a bit and I don't want her feeling guilty or nothing." Daryl mumbled, Rick was one of the few people in the world he would be willing to talk to about things like this but Daryl was still very much a closed book.  
Rick nodded in understanding, "Yeah I see what you mean, but you can't protect her from everything Daryl. This guy is her only living connection to England and to her the guy has just come back from the dead and not in the way where he’d try and eat her. All you can do is be there for her if things don't go to plan, and if they do then it's a win." Advised Rick.  
Daryl appeared to visibly relax after Rick's advice, he knew he was getting worked up over something that might not even happen, they stood and stared at the group of walkers by the fence, the bright sun made the dew on the grass and trees seem to sparkle and birds could be heard chirping in the distance, back before the apocalypse the scene would have been considerable serene or even beautiful, not so much now. The crowd had lessened considerably since the weather started to turn colder but they couldn't let their guard down, that's when things go wrong and they'd all worked too hard for what they have to lose it now.  
Daryl cleared his throat and told Rick he was gonna go check on Sarah, and Rick followed him in but went down towards the showers instead. He silently opened the door to the infirmary and made his way inside, Andrea was sitting at a small wooden desk they had moved in here from one of the offices so they had a place to keep all the paperwork they had for things like their medical supply lists and any notes Hershel wrote up for Andrea and Carol to look at whilst he wasn't there, people could also go there and talk to them if they didn't feel great, keeping the normality of a doctor's appointment in a way. Andrea looked up when he walked in and they smiled at each other before Daryl took a seat next to Sarah's bed, he wasn't there long before Sarah was awake and unfortunately vomiting up the sparse contents of her stomach.  
"Oh shit" uttered Daryl as he managed to just avoid being hit by Sarah's vomit, Andrea came rushing over and held a bucket under Sarah's chin as she sat up for her to hold onto. It wasn't long before Sarah was gagging, trying to be sick but not having anything else to go, her skin had gone white as a sheet and she was freezing to the touch. Once they were confident she wouldn't be sick anymore Andrea got busy checking her over, she took her temperature which hadn't really changed much, took her blood pressure which was still a bit low but nothing of great concern, they were baffled at what was making her so sick and once she was was done Andrea went and got her a plain breakfast of oats and an apple which had been harvested from the trees in the woods.  
Once Sarah was done eating she laid back in her bed with her head turned towards a still unconscious Rob and stared at him just willing him to wake up. Daryl had began trying to talk to her but she wasn't listening to him, he'd been trying to talk to her about the what ifs with Rob but she wasn't interested in hearing it.  
"Sarah are you even listening?" Snapped Daryl who waved a hand across her face to grab her attention.  
She spun her head towards him and snapped "If you're going to try and tell me that he might not wake up or might not be the person I knew then no I'm not listening to you, and I'd appreciate it if you stopped saying it to me too." Her eyes flashed with anger and tears and instantly Daryl felt like a piece of shit.   
"Babe, look I'm, I'm really fucking sorry. I shouldn't have said those things. I just don't want you to be upset just in case" Daryl replied in a small voice, he reached out and held tightly onto Sarah's hand, "It's just I love you, and I don't want anything bad to happen to you but it's impossible for me to stop bad things happening. There's nothing I can do in this situation and it's driving me crazy and the only thing I could think of was to not let you get your hopes up too much just in case things go to shit." Rambled Daryl.  
He looked at Sarah and saw she was beaming from ear to ear, he stopped mid sentence and said, "What are you smiling about so much? Stop it, you're freaking me out"  
"You just said you loved me" gasped Sarah.  
Daryl's face went bright red and he refused that he had said it, which made Sarah tease him more by chanting ‘you love me, you love me, you really really love me’ over and over until Daryl lunged at her and planted a kiss on her lips to shut her up, when he pulled away they stared into each other's eyes for a moment when Sarah whispered to him, “I love you too, I’m so glad you found me out there, when I was out there alone all I wanted to do was die. I’d lost everything and everyone and then you came along and I honestly wouldn’t want to be anywhere else right now than here with you.”   
A warm feeling spread through Daryl’s chest and he kissed her again, when they parted again he took a deep breath and he was shaky at first but soon began pouring his heart out to her, “When I first saw you out in those woods I had no idea everything was about to change all over again, my life, even before the walkers, was shitty, me and Merle were a waste of space and all we did was laze around and do drugs. Then when everything happened and Merle went missing I finally had the chance to make something of myself and Rick helped me with that, he’s more of a brother than Merle ever was and it changed me for the better. Then we found you and you were actually the first person we’d found in such a long time I was… I was nervous about bringing you back here but it’s the best decision I ever made. That was about three months ago now and it feels like you’ve been here the whole time and that I’ve known you for years.” He paused for a moment before continuing, “Three months. I want you to know it’s been the best three months of my life, which is a fucked up thing to say considering there’s walking dead people on the other side of the fence.”   
Sarah looked up at Daryl but felt distracted, she laughed at what he said but when he mentioned she had been here for three months it made her feel uneasy.  
“Three months?” She asked, and felt her stomach twist into knots and immediately began feeling sick again, she then looked over at Rob who was still unconscious and she felt a pang of guilt flood her body. “Three months” she muttered to herself, she bit her lip and looked over at Daryl who was staring at her with a concerned expression on his face.  
“He’s been alone for three months? All whilst I’ve been here, shaking up with you with hardly a care in a world, feeling safe and protected, with water and plenty of food and a warm bed and he’s been out there.” tears were streaming down her face now and she felt the need to vomit spurring on again, she grabbed the bucket and sat for a moment until the feeling passed. Daryl sat on the edge of the bed and rubbed her back until she rested her head on his chest and he ran his fingers through her hair. All of a sudden Sarah’s shot up and exclaimed, “Three months!?” she turned to look at Daryl and repeated herself over and over again.   
“I was here for like a month before me and you got together, wasn’t I?” she rushed out, Daryl stared at her and nodded.  
“Err, probably yeah, I guess it was like a month, why? What does that matter?” he questioned.  
Sarah took a deep breath to calm herself, “Err, I just can’t believe it’s been two whole months. Doesn’t it seem much longer than that? It’s like we’ve been together for two years, not two months.” Sarah rambled.  
Before Daryl had a chance to question why she was acting so weird Andrea walked in with a new IV bag for Rob, she had mastered changing the bags and changed it within a couple minutes and walked over to Sarah where Daryl was still perched on the edge of her bed with his arm around her.  
“How you feeling today?” Asked Andrea, it was hard to believe Andrea wasn’t a doctor or at least a nurse before previously, she had picked up the skills and it was all second nature to her now, she stood at Sarah's free side and held out a thermometer to which Sarah opened her mouth and closed her lips around, she nodded her head to indicate she was good.  
"She's still being sick a lot, do you have any idea what's causing it yet?" Interrupted Daryl.  
"Unfortunately we don't know, it's probably some bug you've had trouble shifting because you're not eating or drinking enough. You look a lot better today and you seem better in yourself so hopefully you'll be able to get out of here soon." Replied Andrea, "Oh and Daryl, Rick asked me if I could send you down to the armoury, he needs you to make a quick run to town for some bits, Michonne’s already getting everything loaded up."  
Daryl went to protest but decided against it, he told Rick he wasn't going anywhere until he knew Sarah was better and now she was getting there he was expected to go out. He kissed Sarah and left the room grumbling to himself as he closed the door behind him and went to find Rick.  
Once the door was shut Sarah called Andrea over who had taken a seat at the desk further down the room, Andrea walked the length of the infirmary and stood at Sarah’s bedside as she pushed herself up into a seated position.  
“What’s up then?” asked Andrea  
Sarah took a deep breath and said, “Do you still keep your calendar?”  
Andrea looked at Sarah suspiciously before answering, “Yeah I do, how come?”  
Sarah put her face in her hands and moved her legs so her knees were tucked under her chin, her voice was muffled when she replied but Andrea couldn’t hear her.  
“What did you say?” she asked, making Sarah move her hands from her face and look at her as she repeated herself.  
“I need it because I think I might be pregnant.” blurted Sarah where she then placed her face in her hands again and gently rocked back and forth.  
Andrea was worried that was what she said, after all it would explain the low blood pressure, the frequent vomiting and loss in appetite.  
“Andrea I need to know exactly how long I’ve been here” stammered Sarah.  
Andrea had already gotten up and was rushing over to her desk where she flicked through some paperwork until she found her makeshift calendar, she flicked back the pages until she found a note scribbled on a day in August that said ‘Sarah arrived’ Andrea then counted forward until today’s date and informed Sarah that she had in fact been here for three and a half months.  
“I was here for about a month before me and Daryl got together and I don’t think I’ve had a period since I’ve been here. Oh my god Andrea, what am i going to do? I can’t be pregnant, this is terrible. How could I possibly bring a child into this world? This is so fucked up. They’re never going to know what it’s like to play outside, they’re going to grow up in constant fear and oh fuck, I’m such an idiot. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck.” rambled Sarah.  
Andrea grabbed her by the shoulders and gave her a sharp shake, Sarah stopped rambling and looked at Andrea who pulled her in for a hug.  
“Stop panicking, we don’t know anything yet. We actually have a couple pregnancy tests around here somewhere. Just give me a couple minutes and let me check the inventory list.” comforted Andrea.  
She hurried off to the supply cupboard and began rummaging around, Sarah could hear boxes falling to the floor and Andrea muttering under her breath but couldn’t make out what she was saying. After about 5 minutes of searching Andrea found what she was looking for and pushed the fallen items into the cupboard and said to herself she’d clean it up later. She returned to Sarah’s bedside where she was sitting with her face buried in her hands, she threw the box onto the bed in front of her and Sarah grabbed it and ripped the box open, in the time it took her to open it Andrea had grabbed a bottle of water and thrust it in Sarah’s hands. She unscrewed the cap and drank as much as she could and took a breath, she took a few more gulps and then got out of bed and hurried over to the bathroom with the pregnancy test in her hand.   
A few minutes later Sarah was sitting in the bathroom, peeing on a plastic stick and trying her hardest not to panic and worry about her future, she saw herself telling Daryl she was pregnant and him freaking out and not being able to handle it, she saw them breaking up or worse, she saw Daryl dying out on a run and her having to raise the baby on her own, she saw them losing the prison and being out on the road with a screaming baby attracting the walkers, she saw the baby living a short, fear filled life not being able to understand why everyone around them keeps going away and not coming back.   
Once she was done she placed the cap on the end of the test and slowly opened the bathroom door to see Andrea waiting there expectantly chewing on her nails, Sarah handed Andrea the stick, at first Andrea refused to take it but the look of fear on Sarah's face made her take it from her.  
"Just tell me what it says, I can't look." Breathed Sarah  
Andrea kept an eye on her watch until three minutes had passed, she turned the test over in her hands and looked at it, she tried to keep a neutral expression but Sarah felt her stomach drop and her heart begin to pound when she saw Andrea's face.  
"It's positive." Announced Andrea.  
Those two words began ringing in Sarah's ears, her thoughts from before now being amplified, she could only see the negatives of having a baby as a cold feeling spread through her chest and all she felt was numbness. She had zoned out of where she was and felt like she was falling down an endless pit of fear,she hadn't realised Andrea was talking until she was saying Sarah's name over and over and grabbing her by the shoulder.  
"Sarah? Sarah listen to me. You need to get it together, it's going to be ok, you'll get through this, you have everyone here to help. We're all family, and this baby is a good thing" Andrea reassured her, she could see Sarah beginning to come back, he breathing was fast and she was shaking. Sarah was only 25, even if they weren't living in the apocalypse finding out she was pregnant would still put her in a panic. She focused on her breathing and managed to calm herself down, she didn't feel as cold and the room started to look brighter and the ringing in her ears was gone.  
"Yeah, maybe you're right" was all Sarah could muster, "Andrea I'm... I'm pretty tired, can you leave me to get some sleep please?" Asked Sarah  
"Of course, take all the rest you need. Before I go though there's just one thing I need to say, you need to tell Daryl as soon as he gets back because I need to let Rick and Hershel know. Rick needs to know so he can accommodate for it and Hershel is going to want you on prenatal vitamins, we need to hit the ground running with this." Said Andrea.  
All Sarah could muster was to nod her head, she knew she had to tell Daryl sooner rather than later, they have to be extra attentive to her situation as well, with no doctors and no modern medicine a number of things could go wrong.  
Sarah lowered herself into bed and fell into a light sleep almost instantly, her dreams were haunted with the images of her life with a baby, even her subconscious couldn't muster up many positive images. When Sarah woke up later the sky was darkening and Daryl was sitting in the chair next to her with his feet perched on the bed and was flicking through one of the books Sarah had picked out for him in the library. When she began to stir Daryl closed his book and threw it on the bedside unit and removed his feet from the bed.   
"Hey, how you feeling now?" Asked Daryl.  
Sarah's stomach dropped at the question,"I'm feeling loads better now" lied Sarah, now wasn't the time or the place to tell him the news.  
Andrea shuffled past and towards the inventory cupboard with her arms full of various medical supplies, in the early days of the outbreak a medical centre had been set up in a church about an hours drive away but it had been overrun quickly and was too dangerous for them to tackle until recently. They had used flares and firecrackers to distract the walkers from the area and had managed to come home with more than they could have even imagined. They now had an abundance of gauze, needles, syringes, antibiotics, iv bags, gloves and whole load of other stuff Sarah had no idea was, the elated look on Andrea’s face spoke volumes for how much all of this meant to them all and their survival. Sarah looked back at Daryl and noticed he was smiling proudly, the last few runs they had been on had been unsuccessful, a lot of places nearby have been picked dry by this point and morale was getting low and it seems this find did more than just get them medical supplies, it had rekindled Daryl’s determination to go out beyond the fence and risk his life for the group, it gave him purpose again now he was contributing again.  
It took Andrea a few hours to get everything counted for and put away as she repeatedly refused Sarah’s offers of help even though it would have meant they'd been done in half the time. Daryl had gone off to see Rick and update him on the haul they'd brought back and Rick had practically ran down to the infirmary so he could see it with his own eyes, he stood and marvelled at the site and wrapped his arm around Andrea’s waist, as the four of them talked about how well they’re getting on now that more people are going out on runs and how they’re getting more and more supplies. Sarah sat mostly in silence unless addressed directly, she was feeling sick again and could feel Andrea’s stare, she knew she needed to tell Daryl but the thought of how he might react made her feel even more sick.  
The conversation died down and Andrea was back at her desk and Rick’s attention had moved onto Rob who was still unconscious, it was a sensitive topic with Sarah sitting right there as Rick and Daryl discussed what would happen when, or if the young man would wake up. Daryl shot Rick a warning look when he had said “if” he wakes up, Sarah hadn’t noticed though, she was laying in bed with her back to them pretending to sleep and trying not to throw up, unable to concentrate on anything other than what could and probably would go wrong once she tells Daryl she was pregnant.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Sarah must have actually fallen asleep at some point as the next thing she realised was she was waking up and the sun was gently falling through the window, as she stretched in the bed she saw Daryl was slumped in the chair beside her, he’d been adamant in staying even when Carol came by to try and make him leave so he could get some actual sleep but he was as stubborn as always. The sight of Daryl sent butterflies to her stomach again, nerves at first she thought, today was going to be the day she told him, she didn’t have time to gaze at Daryl for long as the butterflies started going crazy and she reached for the bucket to her side where she threw up the remnants of last night's dinner. Daryl was up in an instant, he was an incredibly light sleeper these days and he perched himself next to Sarah and gently rubbed her back with broad strokes and moved the hair away from her face with the other hand.   
“Oh God, please don’t look at me, I must be a right state” groaned Sarah as she wiped the edge of her mouth with her sleeve and pushed the bucket away from her.  
“You’ll always be beautiful to me” purred Daryl as he carried on stroking her back with his fingertips, sending a shiver down her spine. Sarah looked at Daryl, the heavy bags under his eyes and pale complexion showed how little sleep he was getting now, even less sleep than usual which he didn't even think was possible. She felt guilty, it was her fault he was so worried and not sleeping which made her feel even more anxious and it showed on her face.  
“Hey, you ok?” asked Daryl, his piercing blue eyes looking into hers and all words escaped from her grasp, she spluttered, unable to form a sentence.   
“I need to” began Sarah but was soon interrupted by Rick and Andrea entering the infirmary, Rick made a motion towards the two and Andrea carried on towards the back room towards the inventory, but not before giving Sarah a look which she knew meant “You tell him today or i’ll have to” and once again the butterflies began fluttering in her stomach.  
“Morning guys, Sarah how you feeling today?” asked Rick as he took his crumpled note pad out of his pocket and began thumbing through it searching for a certain page.  
“Yeah, feeling much better thanks” answered Sarah, unable to say much more without being sick again.  
“Good to hear it, mind if I steal Daryl away for a bit? Got some things I want to go over with him.” replied Rick  
“Oh, sure go for it” answered Sarah, she knew it wasn't really a question, more of a ‘just so you know’   
Daryl was reluctant to go, he could sense something wasn't right with Sarah, he took hold of her hand and kissed her firmly on her forehead, as he pulled away he looked lovingly into her eyes and whispered “I love you, we’ll catch up in a bit” he rested his forehead on hers and Sarah grabbed his hand as he was about to walk away.  
“Be quick, I need to talk to you about something” Sarah blurted out and regretted it instantly, something close to fear flashed over his expression and his stomach dropped, all he could muster in reply was that he'd be quick as he could.

Once Daryl had left the room after being nearly dragged out by an impatient Rick, Sarah sat in her bed and tucked her knees under her chin as tears began streaming down her cheeks. If she hadn't felt like shit before, dropping a bomb on him like that was the worst move, what must he think? She thought to herself. Daryl panics and worries about the smallest things when it comes to Sarah, one time they were walking around the yard taking in the sun and she had tripped over and twisted her ankle, Daryl wouldn't let her walk back and had carried her back up to the prison and up to her room, it was sweet at first but was starting to drive her crazy.   
The next few hours dragged, Sarah couldn't settle and was unable to concentrate on anything, she tried everything to distract herself from the conversation she’d have to have later on with Daryl, she could only imagine the worst outcomes. A couple hours had passed and Sarah looked over to her right and looked at the still unconscious Rob laying in the bed a few feet away from her, she threw the covers off her legs and swung them to the side, using the edge of the bed she steadied herself and made the few steps over to his bed and fell back into the chair positioned by the side of his bed. She examined his face which Andrea had washed the mud caked into his beard and was applying lotion to his sunburnt skin daily to help heal the blisters and sunburn, they had taken his old clothes which now laid in a folded pile in the cabinet next to him, and given him a hospital gown. Sarah scanned his exposed skin and saw fresh cuts, old scars and even a bullet wound or two, her mind now overtaken by the thoughts of what Rob must have been through in the last couple months, she kept looking at his signs of battles and realised most of the wounds were new and he didn’t have the bullet wounds when she knew him. Her heart felt like a sinking stone as she scooted the chair closer to the bed and took his hand in hers, eventually falling into a light sleep, plagued by the images of dark figures chasing her through the woods and screams and cries for help from her family.

“How long is this gonna take?” growled Daryl as Rick lead them down and away from the infirmary, his mind running wild with what Sarah could have meant by ‘I need to talk to you about something’   
“I need to talk to you again about this guy you saw with the group a couple weeks ago, as you know we’ve been having people going out there every few days to keep an eye on things and Glen, Sasha and Tara have just got back and they think they saw something.” replied Rick  
Daryl rolled his eyes and huffed as he picked up the pace to what used to be the warden’s office which Rick had made into his own space, he didn’t like calling it his office but that’s what it was. The others were already sitting in there already and all turned to see see who had come barging through the door, when they saw a disgruntled Daryl charge through and fall into one of the vacant chairs and cross his arms across his chest they knew the meeting wasn’t going to last long if he had his way.  
“So what happened then?” Demanded Daryl, he looked between the three of them and then to Rick with a scowl etched across his dirty face.  
“It was the same guy as last time” Started Glenn, “Just walking around the streets though, didn’t have anyone with him, not that we could see any..”  
“So nothing happened, you just saw this dude walking around some deserted place that we’ve already picked clean?” shot Daryl, he knew he was being a dick but didn’t care, he had more important things to worry about and he wanted this to be over already.  
“Hey Daryl, do you not see how serious this could be? If this guy stays there then he’s going to start looking around, and he’s gonna find us eventually. What if he wants to take this place? What if he’s willing to come in and kill all of us to take? Every. Single. One of us. You ever think of that?” Rick spat back, they sat in silence for a few moments to let what he had said sink in, Daryl still sat there with a face like thunder when Rick added, “If you want to protect the people that live here, the people you love, then we need to nip this in the bud and get rid of this guy.”   
That was enough to get Daryl’s attention, he looked down at his hands and then at everyone around the room, took a deep breath and said, “Alright. Here’s what we need to do.”

 

A few hours passed and Sarah was still sat in Rob’s bedside chair, she had drifted off to sleep again and still gripping onto Rob’s hand, Carol came over to his bed and began examining his wounds, cleaning and changing bandages as she went along. The rustling had awoken Sarah and she rubbed her bleary eyes, the site of Carol made her jump and she pushed herself up the chair as she had slumped down in her sleep.  
“How you feeling today?” asked Carol whilst continuing with attending to Rob’s many ailments.  
“Not bad” she replied quietly whilst instinctively rubbing her belly, she knew she wasn’t far along enough to feel a bump or a kick but she’d convinced herself she could feel it in there deep down.   
Carol looked at her inquisitively but decided not to pry, she took the stethoscope from around her neck and placed the ear buds in her ears and pressed the cold metal to Rob’s chest, looking at the watch on her wrist she counted the number of beats and then checked his blood pressure, once done she walked back to the desk without so much of a word and began scribbling down the numbers. Sarah returned her gaze to her friend and gave out a deep sigh, clasped her hands around his cold fingers and rested her forehead on the side of his bed.  
She fell asleep again but this time was awoken by someone coughing, she lifted her head and to her disbelief the person coughing was Rob, soft at first but became more chesty and violent, Carol came running over and helped Sarah to lift him forward and shoved a bowl underneath his chin and watched as he coughed over and over again before laying back and taking in some deep breaths until his breathing was steady again. Sarah watched as his eyes began to slowly open, it took a few moments for his vision to focus and he saw the two women standing over him, panic set in and he began thrashing out and hit Sarah square in the jaw. It was at this moment Daryl and Rick were just walking through the door, they saw Sarah fall backwards and crash onto the floor as Rob tried to lift himself up to get away from the strange people and surroundings.  
Daryl rushed over to Sarah and Rick went over to Rob and pushed him back down to the bed and held him down, Rob had lost a lot of muscle mass so Rick managed to easily hold him down and he didn’t have much fight in him. Daryl lifted Sarah to her feet and a bruise was already setting in on the spot where Rob had punched her, he set her down in the chair and checked her over, Carol came over and Daryl moved out the way as Carol looked her over.   
“I’m fine, it’s nothing, he didn’t mean it.” Argued Sarah, at this point Daryl was pacing the length of her bed shouting profanities at Rob, all of a sudden Daryl lunged towards Rob but Rick was between them in a flash shouting for Daryl to calm down.  
“Why the fuck wasn't he restrained!? We don't know this guy Rick, he could be fucking dangerous! That's gonna bruise, she's lucky it ain't broke” yelled Daryl pointed at Sarah with her swollen jaw.  
“Daryl, calm down brother. Read the situation, you're upsetting Sarah, once everything calmed down we’ll interview him, like we do with everyone, okay?” soothed Rick, “Okay?” he repeated in a stern voice when Daryl ignored his proposition.  
“Fine, but I ain't being no babysitter.” demanded Daryl before returning to Sarah’s side and draping an arm gently around her shoulder as Sarah leaned in to rest her head on his chest. Back to her safe place. There they sat for about half an hour whilst Carol, Andrea, Hershel and Rick attended to Rob, they'd drawn the curtains around his bed but it didn't muffle the sounds, Rob was shouting and protesting at first, his throat raw and gravely until he couldn't hold out any longer and allowed the strangers to inspect his body. Rick didn't want him to know Sarah was there yet, turns out punching her in the face was an accident, he didn't mention Sarah when Rick was talking to him so he must not have realised it was her.  
Sarah and Daryl laid down on the small bed, Sarah’s head resting on his chest and she ran her fingers along the zip of his jacket and he ran his fingers through her hair. She waited for him to ask what she had meant when she said they needed to talk, her eyes began to droop the sound of his heart pounding rang in her ears and the commotion the other side of the curtain had quietened and she could only hear Rick’s voice in between Rob’s voice that sounded so alien to her now.   
Daryl took a deep breath and asked, “So what was with you earlier? Y’know, when Rick came and got me? You said you needed to tell me something?”  
Sarah closed her eyes and felt her stomach start doing somersaults, she took some deep breaths to stifle the feeling of wanting to vomit.  
“Sarah?” asked Daryl, he began to move and sit up with his elbows behind him to hold him up, she lifted her head to look him in the eye but couldn't manage it. He reached out his calloused fingers and gently lifted her face so she was looking him in the face.  
Daryl began saying something but was quickly interrupted by Sarah who suddenly blurted out, “Daryl I'm pregnant.”


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

Daryl’s first reaction was run. Get up and go as far away as possible, that's what his brother had always taught him. ‘A broad tells you she's pregnant you run little brother. Grab your shit and go before the bitch gets a chance to sink her claws in even more and has your nuts on her mantlepiece.’ is what Merle had always said to Daryl, his brothers words were ringing in his ears and he felt his heart rate pick up and the colour rushed from his face.  
He gazed down at Sarah’s concerned expression and forced a smile, he couldn't speak, the words just wouldn't come out, not that he could think of anything straight off the bat either.  
Before either of them had the opportunity to say anything else Rick pulled the curtain open slightly and said, “Can I borrow you a sec please?”  
As Daryl went to get up, Rick cleared his throat and added, “Oh, not you Daryl. I meant her.” and nodded towards Sarah.  
Her stomach began doing somersaults again and she tentatively got to her feet and walked the few steps to the curtain before stopping, looking around at Daryl and taking a deep breath in. She walked into the cubicle and saw Rob laying there, he was looking in the opposite direction and was talking to Hershel. Once by his bedside Sarah gently cleared her throat, Hershel looked over to her and smiled, Robs head turned and looked up at Sarah.  
Everyone was quiet and the tension could be cut with a knife, Daryl stood behind Sarah protectively and Rick stood to her side just in case as well. After what felt like an eternity the penny dropped with Rob and he sat upright as fast as his injuries would allow, not taking his eyes of Sarah he reached a hand out towards her face, his rough fingers stroked the side of her face and he said, “Sarah? What the fuck? You died. I saw it happen. At … at the barn…”  
Tears began streaming down Sarah’s face again and she replied through choked sobs, “I'm so sorry Rob. Me and Tom got out, I was sure I saw you get bitten. I'm so sorry I left you there. Please forgive me.”  
Rob held his arms out wide and Sarah fell into them, both of them sobbing uncontrollably, they forgot everyone else was there almost instantly. Everyone was smiling, except for Daryl, Rick noticed this and suggested they should give Rob and Sarah a bit of privacy and they all scuttled out, again except for Daryl.  
“Hey” said Rick, who reached out and began guiding Daryl away, “What's wrong with you?” he asked once they were out of earshot, “What just happened in there is a good thing, happy ending and all that and you're still giving the guy a look like that?” he gestured to Daryl's scowl as he talked.  
Daryl took a deep breath and announced, “She just told me she's pregnant.”  
“Oh.” replied Rick, “That's a good thing too you know, might not seen it right now but it is. Trust me, I know what you're going through right now, but come on man, you're gonna be dad! You can't tell me that's a bad thing too, You’ll do great.” said Rick encouragingly.  
Daryl didn’t say anything, the thoughts running through his mind were too horrible to say out loud, he loved Sarah, but he doesn’t want a kid, never really has either. His silence was evidence enough to the way he was feeling, Rick placed his hand on Daryl’s shoulder and said, “Daryl, you know everything’s going to be alright don’t you? You need to get your shit together, she’s gonna need you through this and you can’t hide what you’re feeling either, I think it might be worth you talking to Carol or something.”  
Once again Daryl was silent but all of a sudden grumbled something and stormed off away from the infirmary, Rick stood there taken aback slightly and soon set off to follow him, once he reached the end of the corridor Daryl was nowhere to be seen so Rick set off back towards the infirmary.  
Sarah was sitting cross legged at the end of Rob’s bed and they were deep in conversation when Rick returned, he walked over to Andrea and Hershel and told them about what had happened with Daryl.  
“Don’t tell Sarah yet though, okay?” he warned to them, “She’s happy right now, don’t wanna put a downer on it all by telling her Daryl’s freaking out already.”  
Andrea and Hershel nodded in agreement, the three of them looked over to Sarah and Rob and they were both smiling broadly and laughing which gave Rick a warm feeling in his chest.  
“Do we have the supplies to support a pregnancy Hershel?” asked Rick, who turned to look at him, he wasn’t sure if he knew or not and they need to get things, and fast, if they don’t have the means to support her.  
“She’s going to need to pre-natal vitamins, before we worry about anything else we need to get her those. I doubt she’s more than 2 months gone, it’s still early days and anything could happen. Without an ultrasound machine there’s not a lot I can do I’m afraid.” Instructed Hershel, they were all in strange waters now, as a vet Hershel had delivered his fair share of animals ranging from puppies and kittens to horses and cows, but never a baby.  
“I’ll take Daryl out on a run, might take Glenn too, and we’ll get the vitamins. We’ll make a medical supplies run again whilst we’re out, see what else we can find.” Suggested Rick.  
“If it’s still early days it might be worth not telling everyone yet, I know she’s young but it doesn’t take a lot for a miscarriage to happen, she needs to be off her feet, out of the inventory and relaxing. I’m sure she’ll enjoy giving Rob the full introduction to the place too.” said Andrea.

“So what’s with that guy that was standing behind you giving me the filthy looks earlier?” Asked Rob.  
“Oh, yeah that’s Daryl, he’s harmless really, it’s just when you first woke up you punched me in the jaw and, well it wasn’t the best first impression I guess, his emotions are always pretty close to the surface so sometimes he’ll just go crazy.” replied Sarah.  
“Oh shit I did that?” gasped Rob and pointed at the dark bruise forming on Sarah’s jaw.  
“Yeah you did you prick, you’re lucky you were delirious or I’d have got you back” joked Sarah, they both laughed but the pain in her jaw made her wince. There was a short moment of silence between them, Rob tried to take a deep breath but his ribs wouldn't let him.  
“So you and Tom got out of the barn? I’m glad you had each other, is he here too?” asked Rob who immediately regretted asking when he saw the look on Sarah’s face and the tears emerging, a single tear streaking down her face when she blinked.  
With a shaky voice Sarah explained to Rob what had happened, how they had both gotten out together and started running as fast as they could, not stopping until they physically couldn’t go any further and how they’d luckily found a small abandoned hunting cabin in the woods. Rob held his breath as Sarah explained that it wasn’t until they had stopped that they realised Tom had been bitten, she hated talking about Tom’s death but she felt Rob deserved the full story. She told him how Tom had begged her to kill him, he didn’t want to go through the pain of dying, and he sure as hell didn’t want to end up turning into one of them. So she had done it. She couldn’t bring herself to stab in through the head, so she had grabbed one of the few guns they had and after they had said their tearful and painful goodbyes, standing there in a tight embrace until they lost track of how long they had been standing there. Once the time came Tom knelt on the ground and before she lost her nerve Sarah held up the small handgun, supporting it with both hands, and squeezed the trigger. 

After Sarah had finished talking Rob had leaned up as far as his injuries would allow and they held each other and cried, it was probably half an hour until they pulled apart, both of their faces soaked.  
“How did you survive those months by yourself Rob?” asked Sarah, so quietly it was almost a whisper.  
It was the question he had dreaded her asking, it had been absolute hell but he didn’t want her to feel guilty for something that wasn’t her fault, when the walkers got into the barn all hell broke loose, Sarah was right in what she saw, in a way at least. Rob had been close to the door, he, Tom and Sarah usually all stuck together, they were friends before the outbreak and they had all travelled to America together so they had a stronger bond than they did with any of the others in the group. He was stuck fighting off a small group of walkers with his knife, his weapon of choice was a bow but it proved useless in an enclosed space. The knife had gotten lodged in an attacking walkers skull and Rob had no choice but to run, he grabbed his bow and quiver which held a measly five bolts and ran for the exit, in the dim light he could see probably a dozen walkers had found their way inside and were devouring his friends.  
“I tried to look for you, there were just so many of them, I could have sworn I saw Tom on the ground and I thought I heard you screaming, must have just imagined it I guess.” explained Rob, he refused to lift his head and look Sarah in the eye, and continued on with his story.  
Rob explained to Sarah he saw some tracks in the mud outside but couldn’t be sure with all the walker markings and he had run in the direction of the tracks, hoping to find some other survivors but didn’t have any luck, he’d lost all sign of the tracks by the time the sun was up and the Georgia heat was blaring down. He had decided to loop back to the barn to search for anyone from the group, if that failed he’d hoped to at least salvage some supplies to get him by.  
When he reached the barn he was horrified to see the bloody remains of what he guessed to be most of his group, it was hard to tell, there weren’t many bodies left intact. The barn stank of death, the rotting corpses of the walkers who had attacked the night before laid side by side with his fallen allies, every step Rob took inside the barn he could hear blood squelch under his boot, he rushed over to where they kept their supplies, all packed into backpacks for ease of travel and his stomach sank when he saw that everything was gone and he fell to his knees.  
It was at that moment Rob had realised there was no sunlight in the barn and that the door, the only way in and the only way out, was closed and he could hear more footsteps behind him, before he knew it the muzzle of a rifle was pressed against the back of his neck and he had a bag pulled over his head, his hands were bound with cable ties and he was being dragged out of the building and was hauled into the back of a truck.  
He told her the story of how he had been taken back to a camp, it had walls but they looked as if they had been built in a hurry. It was pitch black when he arrived and was hurried into a large tent with a guard stationed right outside and was left for a few hours. He was dehydrated, delirious and starving so before long he had passed out and didn't wake up again until morning.  
“When I came to there was some guy standing there, typical hick redneck kind of guy with a metal arm with a fucking knife attached to it. Guy was crazy, and I mean crazy. I was in pretty bad shape as it was and he started beating me with his metal stump, fucked up my ribs and went to town on my face. It went on for a couple days when one day it wasn't this guy that came in.”  
Sarah was staring intently at Rob’s face, she felt her stomach doing flips and she dreaded what was coming next. In a way she already knew what he was going to say, she knew who the different guy was but she needed to hear him say his name, she cleared her throat and croaked, “Who was it Rob?  
He lifted his head and she saw it in his eyes, “That night when we escaped from that community, the walkers didn't get everyone left, he didn't recognise me at first but I knew it was him. The way he talked, the way he moved, you got him pretty good you know, he has to wear an eyepatch now. When it dawned on him who I was I knew I didn't have long before I had to escape there as well. One night there was a large group of walkers hanging around the walls and a bunch of us were sent out to dispose of them, he sent the people he didn't mind losing. Well I managed to slip away in the commotion with nothing but the clothes on my back and a knife I'd be given to get rid of the walkers. Long story short, I've spent my last few months avoiding a psychopath with one eye and another with one hand.”

Having overheard their conversation and the description of the two men Andrea signalled Rick over when she saw him walking through the infirmary door. He went over to her and Andrea led him to the storage room where she told him everything she had overheard, even down to the detail about the crazy redneck psychopath with one hand.  
“You don't think it's him do you?” Andrea asked, search Rick’s eyes for a hint as to what he was thinking, that man was a closed book to everyone except Andrea, but even right now she was struggling.  
Rick rubbed his eyes with his palms and exhaled long and slow, “I don't know. How many one handed psychopaths can there be running around Georgia these days?” he said, laughing slightly at himself afterwards.  
Andrea glared at him, “This isn't funny Rick. If it is him then things are about to get even more complicated than before, and before you know it there's going to be another baby here to look after. We need to nip this shit in the bud and sort it, we can't have enemies like that lurking around.”  
“I know, I know” Rick replied, “We’ll sort this out, just not today. I need to talk to this Rob and find out everything he knows about them, we have to be absolutely sure it’s him before we do or say anything, to anything. Especially Daryl. He’s enough of a flight risk at the moment as it is, if he finds out Merle is still alive and that he’s working with the crazy fucker who basically held Sarah and her friends captive then I don’t know what he would do.”


	12. Chapter 12

The next week or so were tense, Sarah remained in the infirmary for another 2 days but when she finally stopped being sick Hershel let her go but under strict guidance that she was not to do any strenuous physical activity and she had to take regular breaks and make sure she kept well hydrated.

Rick had taken Daryl and Glenn out on a run and they had managed to find medicine and prenatal vitamins for Sarah, the entire journey Daryl hardly said a word. The trip was uneventful, to their standards at least, after having lived in this world for so long and having lived on the road for such a long time they learned to deal with the walkers, they’re fine until you get a big group of them. The trick is to keep moving and to not let yourself get surrounded, walkers are dumb and slow and easily distracted, people though, people were dangerous.

 

Daryl had been giving Sarah the cold shoulder since she told him she was pregnant, he clearly wasn’t dealing with it well but in true Daryl Dixon fashion he refused to talk about it, or to even acknowledge there was a problem. Sarah tried tirelessly to get him to talk to her, he had picked up extra shifts on guard duty and was going out on runs almost everyday without even saying goodbye to her. One day Sarah was lying on her bed reading one of Hershel’s books when she heard Daryl’s clunky boots entering his room next door to hers, taking this as her queue she got up off her bed and headed for his room. Sarah did not know where Daryl had been sleeping, but it certainly had not been with her in her room, nor had it been in his own bed, Sarah did not sleep much these days and in the last week she hadn’t heard Daryl in his room or seen him anywhere near this end of the prison.

 

“We need to talk” Sarah demanded as she pushed aside the curtain of his cell, Daryl was hunched over sitting on the side of his bed, his head hung low and he had his elbows rested on his knees. He looked like a man who had the entire world against him, which in a way he did.

Daryl looked up at her, his dirty hair once again covering most of his eyes, when he saw it was her he scooted back on his bed and rested his back against the cold concrete wall, Sarah took this as an invitation and plopped herself next to him, close enough that their thighs were touching, she then gently rested her head on his shoulder. They sat like this for a moment, just taking in the feeling of being close to him made Sarah feel happier, as if the clock had gone back a couple weeks before it all changed.

“Why have you been ignoring me Daryl?” she asked, so quietly it was almost a whisper. 

Instead of answering Daryl simply looked ahead, he didn’t know what to say, the only thing he could think of wasn’t exactly going to put Sarah in a better mood, it wasn’t even really an explanation, more of a childish excuse.

“It’s just, a lots changed.” He mumbled in response, he held his head low so his chin rested on his chest.

“This wasn’t exactly on my plan either you know” she shot back, she didn’t have a bump yet but she had taken to resting her hand on her stomach, Sarah too had been terrified at the news that she was pregnant, she was only young and even before the apocalypse she had never had the desire to have kids. 

Slowly Daryl lifted his head and looked at Sarah, for a moment they sat there looking at each other, no words were needed, they had only known each other a few months but right now it was as if they had always had each other. Daryl took a shaky breath and reached over to take her hand, the one that was currently rested on her belly, they interlocked their fingers and sat like this for a while, feeling the heat of each other's skin had a therapeutic feeling to it, Daryl’s right arm had found it’s way behind Sarah and was now resting on her shoulder, he moved his left hand from her stomach and grazed his rough thumb across her lips before leaning in and planting his lips there instead. 

The kiss felt electric and it seemed to awaken something in Daryl, his kisses became more frantic and passionate, it wasn’t long before he had guided Sarah down onto the bed and he was lying on top of her, firmly planted between her legs. His muscular arms seemed to glisten with sweat and his muscles rippled as he instinctively began pulsating his hips. His lips moved down to her neck where he paused to kiss, bite and then suck, leaving a telltale love bite behind high on Sarah’s neck. Sarah made quick work of unbuttoning her shirt where Daryl was delighted to see she wasn’t wearing a bra, he took one of her nipples in his mouth hungrily and ran his tongue over it, even in the heat of it all Daryl noticed Sarah jump more than usual when he did this.

“Sorry, my nupples have been really sensitive and a bit achy recently” explained Sarah.

Daryl didn’t reply he knew the reason but he refused to let himself think about it now instead he carried moving south and was pulling off Sarah’s jeans, they were not even completely off before he unfastened his own and unleashing his member. 

He roughly rubbed his thumb over her clitoris vigorously,  quick moan escaped from Sarah’s mouth at the sudden surprise. The moan was then intensified as she felt a sharp stinging sensation between her legs as Daryl thrusted into her. He pounded into her, rapidly increasing in speed, Sarah braced herself by clinging onto his shoulders and with every thrust her breasts bounced up and down.

Sarah seemed to have forgotten where they were and she allowed her moans of pleasure to pass her lips, the last time they had secx during the day everyone in their cell block had heard them and had made comments for a week after. Daryl reached down and placed a hand over Sarah’s mouth, her moans were now muffled and the only sound between them was the sound of their bodies hitting each other. 

Rough sex wasn’t something Sarah was used to having, especially with Daryl, their sex life was more tender could probably be more described as “making love”, this however was something different, it felt more exciting, the speed that Daryl was penetrating her gave her little time to get a grip on herself and she knew she was being too loud but she didn’t care, Daryl was obviously struggling with how much things have changed and she was glad to have him back. When Daryl put his hand over her mouth she could feel her heart beginning to pound harder in her chest, her toes were curling and her nails were starting to dig into the exposed skin of his shoulders which weren’t covered by his leather vest. The pleasure was mounting and gaining, Daryl tried to stop himself from cumming so quickly, he didn’t want this moment to end but he couldn’t contain it any longer, he didn’t pull out like normal, and once his orgasm was done his arms could hardly hold him up anymore and rolled off Sarah and laid next to her on the undersized bed. Both of them were panting hard, their clothes and hair were all over the place and they were both covered in sweat and smelt of sex. 

A few minutes passed before either of them said anything, Daryl got up first to redress and he sat on the side of his bed, Sarah soon followed except she sat behind Daryl with a leg either side and began to gently massage his shoulders. This went on for a further 5 minutes, both were silent, Daryl was the one to break the silence between them, to Sarah’s surprise.

“I’m sorry.” he said to her, as he said this he turned around and took Sarah’s hands in his, “I should be more supportive. A lot of shit has happened in a short bit of time, us finding Rob and finding out you was, well you know. It’s all a lot to take in and I’ve been an asshole.” he took a deep breath and looked at Sarah in the eyes, “Growing up I didn’t have a real father figure, the guy was a prick. Constantly drinking, beating my mom, Merle and … and me. Well when you said I’m going to be a dad, I panicked. I don’t know what the hell to do, I don’t know how to look after a baby. Even before the world went to shit, I was nothing, I was just some asshole going around with my drughead brother, just some fucking loser.” said Daryl.

Sarah couldn’t help but chuckle slightly, Daryl looked at her accusingly and she quickly apologised and said, “Oh shit, no babe I’m not laughing at you. Well I am but not at you at you. You think I have any fucking idea how to raise a kid? I never wanted to have a baby, I never picked up the who maternal instinct thing. But do you really think we’ll be doing this alone? All you have to do is look around and see what we have here, this baby won’t have just you and me, it’ll have Rick, Andrea, Carol, Glenn, Maggie and everyone else here. It doesn’t matter that we don’t have the first fucking clue what we’re doing, other people do. So what if we have to learn on the job, if that’s what it takes then that is what it will take. I’m not saying this is going to be the easiest thing in the world, bringing a baby into a world where the dead eat the living, well it’s not exactly ideal is it. Rick did it though, and now he couldn’t imagine not having Judith. I was talking to him about it the other day and I was trying to tell you what he said but you kept ignoring me and running away.” 

Now Daryl felt like even more of a dickhead, he pecked Sarah on the lips and jumped off his bed and began rummaging around his locker looking for something, after a short while of searching he stood up and walked back to the bed, in his hand was a teddy bear. He extended the teddy bear towards Sarah and said, “I found it a while back in the next town over, I saw it and well, I thought of you.” 

It wasn’t the teddy itself which brought tears to Sarah’s eyes, it wasn’t the fact that he had seen it and thought of her, the small teddy bear was dressed up as one of the Queen's guards, or a beefeater as they were more commonly known. 

“I meant to give it to you before but I guess other things came up and I forgot about it” explained Daryl. He was gazing down at the teddy bear and watched as Sarah’s fingers ran up and down the bearskin hat and then moved down to inspect the uniform. Where she had lived in England had been a short journey out of London so she had spent a lot of time in the city, memories came rushing back of her as a little girl and her parents taking her and her older brother to the tower of London and then down to see Buckingham Palace. She had been amazed by the guards, marching up and down outside the gates of Buckingham Palace and no matter how hard she tried she could not get them to smile. It had been one of the happiest memories of her childhood, she had been suppressing the thoughts and emotions of back home, those feelings however had begun rising to the surface again now that Rob was back in her life. 

Tears flooded down her face and she struggled to take a breath, it wasn’t just sadness she was feeling, it was as if this entire time she had been in America facing this new life she hadn’t let herself feel everything. Looking down at this small token of her previous life had opened the floodgates, she had a dull pain in the chest and felt as if her stomach had fallen to the ground. She didn’t know what had happened to her family, and the worst thing of it all was that she never would. One time Sarah had said to Daryl about it, what if it was just America that was affected and the rest of the world was ok, that one day, and hopefully one day soon, the army or the UN or someone would swoop in and save them all.

Daryl knew that wasn’t true though. He had told her about what happened at the CDC with Dr Jenner, how he had been the one to tell them about the fate of the rest of the world, about how the CDC in France was the last to fall. That England was almost certainly experiencing the same apocalyptic world as they were. 

 

Sarah was emotionally drained and exhausted, after they were finished talking they laid down on the bed together and Daryl held Sarah in his arms, and she was asleep in almost no time, Daryl just laid there and watched her sleep. He enjoyed watching her sleep because that’s when people are most blissful, completely cut off from the outside world, when people slept, in their dreams anything was possible. As he laid there watching Sarah all he could think of was how he hoped she was having a happy dream, in that moment all he wanted was for Sarah to be happy.

Daryl did not know how long they had been asleep when he heard movement coming from outside his cell door, he was a light sleeper and was up on his feet with cat like silence. He grabbed his knife from the makeshift bedside cabinet and crept towards the door, with his left hand he slowly pushed aside the curtain and was relieved to see Rick standing there, the two men nodded at each other as Daryl slid the knife into its holder attached to his jeans. 

“Can you wake Sarah up please Daryl, we have some things to discuss.” said Rick in a monotone fashion, instantly Daryl became suspicious and was about to ask why the hell he wanted to talk to Sarah, when Rick stepped to the side and Daryl saw Rob standing there sheepishly. With the arrival of Rob, Daryl knew what it was about, or more to the point. Who it was about.

Daryl walked back into his room, gently sat beside Sarah and woke her by pacing a hand on her shoulder and shaking her slightly. She woke with a start but calmed when she saw it was Daryl sitting there. The look on his face though, that got her guts twisting and the butterflies in her stomach came back until she asked him what was wrong.

Daryl took a deep breath and said, “Rick and Rob are just outside the door, Rick wants to talk to you and him. He wants to talk to you guys about the Governor.”


	13. Chapter 13

They all walked to Rick’s office in almost complete silence, if not for the sound of their clunky boots on the metal walkway. Once they arrived Rick motioned for Sarah and Rob to take a seat on the cracked leather sofa whilst he and Daryl sat on the individual armchairs opposite, a stained coffee table placed between them.  
Rick placed his notebook on his knee and grasped a pen with his right hand, the serious look on his face was enough for Sarah to feel as if she was back at school, sitting in front of the headmaster.  
“I need to know everything about this guy who calls himself ‘The Governor’” said Rick, straight to the point, no messing around.  
It was hard going at first, for Rob and Sarah their experiences with the Governor wasn’t something particularly easy to talk about. He had given them shelter, food, medicine and most importantly had given them hope, to begin with at least. When their little group arrived at the gates they were welcomed with open arms, all he asked in return was that they pulled their weight which they were all too happy to oblige, anything to get away from the horrors of the world outside.  
“You both now the story of how we escaped, or do I have to tell it again?” asked Sarah.  
“No, it’s alright.” replied Rick, “But we are mostly interested in your most recent encounter with him.” Rick has turned his attention to Rob who had been mostly quiet the whole time Sarah was speaking.

Rob took a deep breath to ready himself for the conversation he was hoping to avoid.  
“They picked me up inside the barn, after I’d gone back to see if anyone had made it, and to grab some supplies if they hadn’t. They bound my wrists with cable ties and put a bag over my head. I lost track of how long we drove for but it was dark by the time we arrived, it wasn’t the same place as before so I can only guess the old place was completely fucked after we left. I got thrown into a tent and had a guard outside keeping watch. I passed out almost straight away and got woken up by some redneck with a metal arm, the guy beat the shit out of me with it. Look, I’ve already told Sarah all this, why do I have to do it all again?” Rob asked, looking between Rick and Daryl with a pained expression on his face.   
“We think the Governor has been eyeing up the town over from us for a base of some sorts. We need as much information about this guy as possible. We need to know how many of them there are, what weapons they have, what their plans are and if they know about us yet.” He stopped for a moment before continuing, “Also the guy with the metal arm is a person of potential interest.”  
Daryl shot Rick a confused expression, he hadn’t mentioned anything to him about any guy with a metal arm being of interest and it made Daryl nervous when Rick kept things hidden from him. Rick was avoiding looking at Daryl just yet, he would deal with that when the time came, but right now he needed some intel on this potential threat.  
They had lost track of time by the time Rick was done drilling Rob and Sarah for information, he wanted to know everything, even the smallest detail. Daryl had sat in his usual position of leaning back, his arms crossed and a scowl on his face that he kept directing at Rick. Sarah tried to catch his eye every now and again but he wasn't paying attention, he was too busy sulking and trying not to boil over every time Rick spoke.   
They had been sitting in Rick’s makeshift office for the best part of the evening, by the time Rick said Rob and Sarah could leave they were all aching, tired and emotionally drained. Rick had asked Daryl to hang back but he needn't have, Daryl was sitting like a rock in his chair, the scowl still present on his face. Sarah went to kiss his cheek before she left but Daryl gave a slight humph and sat as he had all night, his angry eyes on Rick’s face.  
As soon as the door shut Rob and Sarah could hear Daryl’s growl, Sarah was sure she heard something smash as well.   
“Well that was dramatic” said Rob, they had both hastened their steps to get as far away from the argument as possible, no way did they want to get in the middle of all of that.   
Sarah mumbled an agreement as she began to slow down, her head was throbbing and her mind was racing and she didn’t want to talk anymore, just crawl into her bed and wait for when Daryl was done with his conversation with Rick. As they made their way back to their rooms they walked in silence and the whole place was silent and dark, it must be late if everyone else has already gone to bed. As they reached their rooms Rob and Sarah hugged goodbye, the hug was comforting and warm and they stood there for what felt like a long time but was in reality just a minute or so, they each made their way into their dark rooms and it was only when Sarah saw her bed did she realise how much she ached and just how tired she was, usually as she undressed she would fold her clothes up and place them into her make shift wardrobe but tonight she casually discarded them and left them where they fell, she climbed into bed and was asleep almost instantly.  
Daryl left Rick’s office in an angry and irritable mood, Daryl had practically pounced on Rick as soon as it was just them two and demanded to know what was going on and who this metal armed hilbilly was - even though he already had a good suspicion of who it was, not long after the outbreak had started Daryl found himself as part of a small group of survivors on the outskirts of Atlanta, it wasn’t just Daryl though, he was accompanied by his bully of a brother - Merle Dixon. He could be a real piece of work but he was the only family that Daryl had left, after his mum had died and his dad had left their family one day when going out for a pack of smokes. Back then Daryl would do everything his brother told him to do, they were even planning on robbing the group blind and making off with all of their stuff, if fate hadn’t intervened. On that day fate took the shape of a mysterious “officer friendly” Rick Grimes who was out searching for his family - well he had found it, but in the process he had also caused a shit storm for their group. He had waltsed into Atlanta on horseback with no clue of how bad it all was, he had blown their cover and they didn’t all make it out, the only one left behind was Merle, handcuffed to a roof and left to die after T-Dog had dropped the only set of keys down a drain, as it transpires they now have reason to believe that Merle had actually managed to amputate his own hand and then escaped from the rooftop - something short of a miracle when you really think of it - depending on who you ask at least.   
The thought that his brother may actually still be alive out there somewhere was causing Daryl’s mind to race, he was his brother and he wanted to find him, but if he was involved with this Governor then who knows how it would all go down, the Govenor was out for blood, Sarah’s in particular, and the thought of having to choose between his brother and his pregnant girlfriend was causing Daryl to worry, as he got closer to their room he tried to push the thoughts down to the back of his mind, he was far too tired to think about all of this right now.   
Luckily Sarah was fast asleep as Daryl creeped into their room, he could hear her soft breaths as she slept and Daryl could feel himself calming down, all he had to do was get undressed and sneak into bed and they could think about all of what had happened that night in the morning. He silently undid and pulled off his boots but as he took a step forwards as he took his shirt off his feet got wrapped up in Sarah’s discarded clothes and he ended up tripping, landing on the bed and Sarah jumped up with a cry and grabbed for the torch she kept next to her pillow and shined it direclty into Daryl’s eyes which startled him further.  
“Fucking hell Daryl! What are you playing at” complained Sarah, “You scared the crap out of me” she added as she swatted him on the shoulders to show her displeasure at the rude awakening.  
“Didn’t do it on purpose did I” Daryl replied, he was hoping for an easy night but that seemed to be further and further out of reach.   
“How did it go with Rick?” Sarah asked as she rubbed her eyes and pushed herself up so she was leaning on her elbows, her breasts rising and falling as her breathing evened out, Daryl couldn’t help but notice her nipples poking through her thin vest.  
“Don’t wanna talk about it” Daryl mumbled as he continued undressing down to his underwear, he threw the covers back and climbed in next to Sarah, the warm feeling from her body made him instantly relax, she turned her back to him and he wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, the smell of her and the feeling of her body was enough to make Daryl get a slight erection which Sarah could instantly feel, as tired as they both felt Sarah couldn’t resist pushing her body against Daryl’s and without delay Daryl was directing his hands down along Sarah’s body, over her stomach and pushed aside her underwear and began rubbing her clit, Sarah let out a small moan which only made Daryl more eager, soon he was ripping down her underwear and his own and climbed ontop of her, he inserted himself into her and instantly picked up his pace and their bodies seem to fall into sync and soon Daryl could feel himself about to come, Sarah could feel it too and they both came practically at the same time, once it was over they went back into their spooning position and were both asleep before they even had a chance to get dressed again.


End file.
